I will probably get in trouble for saying it, but I kind of agree with Rand Paul on the matter of ownership and your right to kick anybody out of your restaurant for any reason that pleases you.
The laws that enforced racial segregation in public matters were wrong. There is no equivocation on that score. But, I do not see why the government needs to force owners of apartments or restaurants (or any privately-held business) to serve anyone who comes through the door. People have a right to be bigoted and even wrong-headed.
If you believe in property ownership, it follows that you must believe that the owner has a right to use the property in a way that they choose, providing it does not harm others. I don't think anyone is harmed by being excluded - unless they are also beaten up.
I may as well go all the way out on the limb and say that I think an owner or proprietor may exclude anyone for any reason. Further they may also decide to allow cigar smoking and naked line-dancing if it is not prohibited by local laws.
Rights go both ways. You have the right to move around the public square and vote and speak your mind - even though you might be totally full of crap.*
But, if I don't like the way you look, I should have the right to ask you to leave my property.
The knee jerk thing we have about discrimination makes us leap-up to condemn it when we see it applied to a traditional minority group. But don't we agree that people have the right to discriminate? Certainly we are forced to accept this concept when it comes to economic segregation - for example First class riders get extra perks and big seats. (The po' folk sits in the cattle car wiff de goats. )
We allow gated communities, doorman guarded apartments and private country clubs. We let our elected representatives treat themselves like royalty and we are not invited to join the real parties. Institutions have always excluded people because of age, gender and rank.
So, lets stop getting all hinky just because someone wants to exclude someone on the basis of race or religion. We are programmed at birth to distrust others based on the way they look or behave, so maybe it's just a human thing.
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*They have not yet passed a law against blogging while being full of crap, thank goodness.
2 comments:
What a poor bargain civil rights legislation has turned out to be for liberal politicians! The putative beneficiaries do not reliably keep up their end by turning out at the polls. Perhaps giving libertarians a shot at governance would prove instructive.
Now, about those “anchor babies”…
I'm not a libertarian but I agree with Rand Paul on abolishing automatic citizenship by birth if neither parent is a citizen.
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