D
Dylith
Guest
This issue isn't as simplistic for me as it seems to be made out by libertarians who are supporting Rand Paul.
I don't see anything inherently racist with his suggestion that private business owners should be able to refuse service to those whom they don't wish to serve. It seems like a perfectly normal economically libertarian stance. In fact, that doesn't automatically sound very bad at all. Working as a manager in several different retail stores I have certainly asked people to leave before.
The problem though for me with things such as publicly tolerating high levels of racism and segregation (even if you disagree with them) carries with it a lot of negative externalities that I think should be taken into account when we look at issues such as this one.
Social division is harmful, and the effects of that division most certainly carry far beyond the private business in which they would be experienced. Allowing communities where blacks aren't served becomes damaging to the overall social stability and well being of the nation. It can (and has) promoted further division, further polarization, the institutionalization of racism and even to violence (both isolated and wide scale). When we look back at the history of this country and the history of how wide scale racism has affected us (and other societies such as South Africa, Rhodesia etc) then I think that there is a much stronger argument for the curtailment of these specific private business rights.
It may seem completely silly to say force a Jewish person to serve a neo-Nazi as you put it, but I think the bigger picture here is where the ruling stems from and not rather absurd examples such as that.
I don't see anything inherently racist with his suggestion that private business owners should be able to refuse service to those whom they don't wish to serve. It seems like a perfectly normal economically libertarian stance. In fact, that doesn't automatically sound very bad at all. Working as a manager in several different retail stores I have certainly asked people to leave before.
The problem though for me with things such as publicly tolerating high levels of racism and segregation (even if you disagree with them) carries with it a lot of negative externalities that I think should be taken into account when we look at issues such as this one.
Social division is harmful, and the effects of that division most certainly carry far beyond the private business in which they would be experienced. Allowing communities where blacks aren't served becomes damaging to the overall social stability and well being of the nation. It can (and has) promoted further division, further polarization, the institutionalization of racism and even to violence (both isolated and wide scale). When we look back at the history of this country and the history of how wide scale racism has affected us (and other societies such as South Africa, Rhodesia etc) then I think that there is a much stronger argument for the curtailment of these specific private business rights.
It may seem completely silly to say force a Jewish person to serve a neo-Nazi as you put it, but I think the bigger picture here is where the ruling stems from and not rather absurd examples such as that.