Rand Paul again makes the mistake of letting his true beliefs slip:
"The bottom line is I'm not an expert, so don't give me the power in Washington to be making rules. 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. I know that doesn't sound..." Here he stumbles, trying to parse his words properly but only presaging his campaign misstep. "I want to be compassionate," he concludes, "and I'm sorry for what happened, but I wonder: Was it just an accident?"
Rand is espousing the pure laissez faire idea that safety rules are unnecessary, because workers can choose not to accept jobs from employers that feature unsafe working conditions. Thus the market is self-correcting. That this theory bears no relationship whatsoever to observed reality -- America before workplace safety rules was extremely dangerous for workers -- but reality is not Rand Paul's concern.