Doublespeak

Do you remember in "1984" Orwell introduced us to the words doublethink and newspeak. We the politicians have it down to a science, saying one thing and mean another.

Rand Paul on Transgender Rights: 'Government Shouldn't Ask About Your Personal Life'
The Kentucky senator's libertarian streak makes him reluctant to condemn Obama policies.
Bloomberg Politics
By David Weigel
June 6, 2015

On Friday, I asked Kentucky Senator Rand Paul if, as president, he'd continue the Obama administration's approach to transgender rights. Since December, the Department of Justice has interpreted Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include gender identity.

On the question of the Justice Department's move, Paul didn't exactly endorse the policy but, interestingly, he didn't exactly repudiate it either. He speculated that government could bar discrimination, but wondered about the legal implications.

"I think that government should not ask about your personal life," said Paul. "I would make that a rule—government shouldn’t ask about your personal life when you apply to anything. It would be wrong for the government to discriminate based on anything like that. But then, I don’t know what that exactly means. You get into [questions like] can you sue over it? The government ought to be as neutral as possible."

Sen. Paul’s live and let live policy sounds like a policy man LGBT people could live with, that he doesn’t believe in some of the draconian bills that have been introduced by some Republicans. But you have to dig a little deeper to find out what he does believe, in a 2011 The Hill article he is quoted as saying,

Paul's son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), faced criticism during his campaign for Senate last fall because of similar remarks he made, also during an appearance on MSNBC. Rand Paul had advanced a similar argument about property rights, and, under political pressure, issued a follow-up statement in which he voiced support for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and would not support any efforts to repeal it.

Some libertarians argue that the government overstepped its authority in the landmark legislation, which sought to ban discrimination by private businesses and organizations. Paul sought to draw a distinction between holding that opinion and supporting the segregation and other tools of discrimination that the '64 law sought to abolish.

And in a CCN article said this about Sen. Rand Paul,

While campaigning for the Senate four years ago, Paul sparked a firestorm for questioning parts of the historic law, especially its underpinnings that place restrictions on private property.

The law gave the federal government too much power in telling business owners what they could and could not do, he argued. While he expressed strong abhorrence for racism, he said it was the job of communities, not the government, to fix discrimination in private places by boycotting such businesses.

So he is against segregation and discrimination, he just feels that the government shouldn’t do anything about it and that means don’t expect him to advance any legislation like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) or any additions to the Civil Rights Act that includes us.