2013-12-08-1325Z


one of my IRL friends, whose intelligence I respect but who hasn't taken the time to think through political matters, having been on the treadmill for most of his life, blocked me for my position on this ruling, which to me is a clear-cut case of judicial overreach, forcing a private citizen to do something for someone else that he does not want to do. my friend extended that to my saying that a business owner can deny service to blacks, and I agreed.

do I think it's a good thing to discriminate against someone for their race, religion, or sexual orientation? no. I find these tendencies in myself and have worked for years to stop them, with some success. but force must not be used to end this practice; it has been tried before, and the results are illuminating. after years of the iron hand of communism keeping ethnic conflict muted, the Bosnian war released that pent-up hatred in a disgusting orgy of violence.

as H. L. Mencken said, as quoted on Mike Vanderboegh's blog Sipsey Street Irregulars,

I believe that liberty is the only genuinely valuable thing that men have invented, at least in the field of government, in a thousand years. I believe that it is better to be free than to be not free, even when the former is dangerous and the latter safe. I believe that the finest qualities of man can flourish only in free air -- that progress made under the shadow of the policeman's club is false progress, and of no permanent value. I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave. -- H.L. Mencken

the ACLU also took the side of the gay couple, defending their positive right to have the baker make their cake the way they wanted it to the baker's negative right to serve whom he pleases to serve and no one else. this is understandable in the context of the Civil Rights Act, in its provision for "facilities that served the general public", but it is wrong. government must not discriminate, but private citizens should be allowed to be asses if they wish. the marketplace will punish them eventually.

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last updated 2013-12-08 08:49:45. served from tektonic.jcomeau.com