He's already come out against federal civil rights laws, federal environmental laws, federal gun control laws, the 14th Amendment, foreign aid, and participation in international organizations such as the U.N., World Bank and IMF. Now he's taking a stand against what he perceives as another threat to liberty. He's saying that his fellow Kentuckians who either work as miners or live near coal mines should not be protected by federal mine safety laws. His reason? He doesn't know anything about mine safety, and he hopes to be a senator. Therefor, senators should have no say in the matter. Read:
"The bottom line is: I'm not an expert, so don't give me the power in Washington to be making rules."
If that logic sounds a bit twisted, try this on for size. His solution for making mines safer is to "try" to regulate it locally. And if that doesn't work ... well, that's where he gets a little fuzzy.
He first says that, if you live in the mining areas, you have to work in the mines. Then he says that, if his idea of regulatiing them locally fails, just don't work in the mines.
"You live here, and you have to work in the mines. You'd try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don't, I'm thinking that no one will apply for those jobs."
Yeah. He's really thought this through.
About last April's disaster in Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine, the one where the gross negligence of the management led to the deaths of 29 miners, Paul had this to say:
He's right to be concerned about not sounding compassionate. Paul is taking the exactly the same line that Massey Energy has been taking. Contradicting unbiased experts on the subject who have determined that Massey's recklessness caused this tragedy, Massey has been summoning the families of the dead miners into private meetings where they have tried to bully them into accepting this "just an accident" line. (Read here.) Paul chooses to take the word of these completely biased mine owners over the objective science presented by the experts. Of course, the experts are agents of the federal government, which to Paul may mean that they are secretly trying to promote socialism. If Rand Paul fails to be elected to the Senate, he might consider going to work for Massey.
"I know that doesn't sound … I want to be compassionate, and I'm sorry for what happened, but I wonder: Was it just an accident?"
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