Ron Paul Blasts Minority Rights in Early Book
One of Rep. Ron Paul’s early books published under his name, contains several passages where he criticizes AIDS victims, minority rights and sexual harassment victims.
In the 1987 publication “Freedom Under Siege: The U.S. Constitution after 200-Plus Years,” Paul said that AIDS patients were victims of their own lifestyle, questioned the rights of minorities and argued that victims of sexual harassment should quit their jobs, according to CNN.
The book was reissued in 2007 during Paul’s last presidential bid and it blames AIDS victim for forcing otherwise unaffected citizens to pay for their care.
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“The individual suffering from AIDS certainly is a victim- frequently a victim of his own lifestyle- but this same individual victimizes innocent citizens by forcing them to pay for his care,” Paul stated in the book.
In other chapters regarding the rights of people outside the government, Paul said that politicians were absurd to try to bestow rights on various social and ethnic groups. He wrote that it is dangerous to draw up a separate set of rights for groups like African Americans, Hispanics, children, employees and the homeless.
“Every year new groups organize to demand their rights,” he said in the book. “White people who organize and expect the same attention … are quickly and viciously condemned as dangerous bigots.”
He went on to call out specific groups, calling people’s approach for receiving rights for everyone absurd.
“Hispanic, black, and Jewish caucuses can exist in the U.S. Congress, but not a white caucus, demonstrating the absurdity of this approach for achieving rights for everyone,” he charged.
Paul then asserted that sexual harassment should not be a violation of one’s employment rights, according to CNN. He wrote that employee rights are said to be valid when employers pressure employees into sexual activity.
“Why don’t they quit once the so-called harassment starts?” Paul said in the book. “The morals of the harasser cannot be defended, but how can the harassee escape some responsibility for the problem?”
He then wrote that seeking protection under civil rights legislation is hardly acceptable.
Jesse Benton, Paul’s campaign manager, defended the book, saying that the candidate has been speaking out for decades that rights do not come from belonging to a group. In an email to CNN, Benton said that rights are endowed by “our Creator and Americans must look beyond race and creed to recognize that we all deserve the same Liberty.”
