Reason magazine: on Civil Rights
Bob Barr:
Took post with ACLU based on fundamental common interests
Q: A lot of people were surprised when you took a post with the ACLU, but you actually cooperated with them going back at least to the early Clinton years.A: It started with the initial anti-terrorism bill in 1996. That probably was the first time tha
we recognized specifically that we had some very fundamental common interests. We worked together after that on several other pieces of legislation, such as the asset forfeiture reform, and the national driver’s license. I had always known them to be a
very consistent advocate for civil liberties, but we disagreed on so many issues that I never really sought them out in terms of an ally. But shortly after I came up to the Congress, we both realized that the size of government and the expansiveness of
government power were creating a smaller sphere of personal liberty and personal privacy, and that we needed to find allies in this fight, and work together on those issues in which we agree, and agree to disagree on the other issues.
Source: Jesse Walker, in Reason Magazine, “right wing of the ACLU”
Dec 1, 2003
Gary Johnson:
Denying gay couples the right to marry is discrimination
Gary Johnson said he's "disappointed" with President Obama's position on gay marriage. Obama told ABC he would let each individual state decide the gay marriage question instead of seeking federal protection of the right to marry. Johnson noted that more
than 30 states already ban same sex marriage in one way or another.Johnson said, "Instead of insisting on equality as a US Constitutional guarantee, the President has thrown this question back to the states. When the smoke clears, Gay Americans will
realize that millions of Americans in most states will continue to be denied true marriage equality."
Johnson, once a long-time supporter of civil unions, has also "evolved" on the gay marriage question. "As I have examined this issue, consulted with
folks on all sides, and viewed it through the lens of individual freedom and equal rights," he said in December 2011, "it has become clear to me that denying those rights and benefits to gay couples is discrimination, plain and simple."
Source: Reason Magazine on 2016 presidential hopefuls
May 10, 2012
John Buckley:
Shares home with his same-sex partner
After retiring from many years as an official with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, Buckley is running for Senate this year from West Virginia, where he has a home with his same-sex partner, with the Libertarian Party.
The Washington Post recognized the race as one of seven nationally where the L.P. could be a player.Q: You are one of the few openly gay Senate candidates this year. How might that play into your votes?
A: voters however conservative politically or culturally they are have advanced light years forward on the issue of marriage. For younger voters it's really not an issue at all, gay marriage.
To the extent I raise it, I see it as an issue among other issues about limited government, live and let live, bringing economic freedom and personal civil liberties together in a more consistent message.
Source: Reason magazine Q&A on 2014 West Virginia Senate race
Jul 24, 2014
Justin Amash:
The Fourteenth Amendment is my favorite amendment
The federal government has an important role in remedying discrimination. The Fourteenth Amendment talks about due process and equal protection. And, at the core of liberty and libertarianism is this idea of the rule of law.
I think that there is a major role for the federal government to play in protecting individual rights. It is my favorite Amendment to the Constitution because I think it really embodies the idea of liberty the best of any of the Amendments.
Source: Reason magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
May 1, 2020
Mike McGavick:
Patriot Act is no longer an issue
The most vulnerable incumbent Democrat who joined the PATRIOT filibuster is Washington's Maria Cantwell. But Mike McGavick, her millionaire Republican challenger, isn't making the PATRIOT Act an issue. McGavick's campaign staff didn't comment when
Cantwell cast her vote, and they're not planning on it in February. "Two years ago the PATRIOT Act was a polarizing issue," says McGavick's staff. "But unless something changes and the public goes crazy about it I don't think it will be an issue for us."
Source: David Weigel, Reason Magazine
Jan 19, 2006
Tom Vilsack:
Failed to protect slaughterhouse works, help black farmers
Groups like the Independent Black Farmers coalition and the Family Farm Action Alliance have strongly criticized Vilsack's record, with the former's president, Michael Stovall, telling Politico, "When it comes to civil rights, the rights of people, he's
not for that.""Vilsack failed to enact protections for slaughterhouse workers or improve the department's treatment of black farmers, and oversaw the approval of high-speed slaughter," Leah Garc‚s, president of Mercy for Animals, said.
Source: Reason magazine on Biden Cabinet
Dec 19, 2020
Tom Vilsack:
Apologized for firing black woman over doctored video
In July 2010, a misleadingly edited clip of Shirley Sherrod, the department's Georgia state director of rural development, was posted. Andrew Breitbart edited the clip to make it sound as though she refused to help [a farmer] because he was white.
Sherrod was forced to resign. Vilsack admitted he had been taken in a hit job and offered Sherrod a new position at the USDA, telling reporters, "This is a good woman, she's been put through hell and I could have and should have done a better job."
Source: Reason magazine on Biden Cabinet
Dec 19, 2020
Tom Vilsack:
Foreclosed on black farmers six times more than whites
A 2019 investigation painted a devastating picture of Vilsack's civil rights record, finding that he dragged out discrimination cases until they reached the statute of limitations and no longer needed resolution, and foreclosed on Black farmers six
times as often as white farmers. "The department sent a lower share of loan dollars to black farmers than it had under President Bush, then used census data in misleading ways to burnish its record on civil rights," they report.
Source: Reason magazine on Biden Cabinet
Dec 19, 2020
Tom Vilsack:
Pushed for minority voting rights on Farm Service committees
A veteran of the Vilsack USDA noted he reformed the Farm Service Agency's county committees, a key form of community consultation. Committees used to have non-voting "minority advisers" to address racial equity concerns, and Vilsack successfully pushed
to give those representatives voting rights. Another source defended Vilsack's record on civil rights, citing his department's increase in microloans to historically disadvantaged farmers.
Source: Reason magazine on Biden Cabinet
Dec 19, 2020
Page last updated: Dec 24, 2023