Business Rights and Free Markets

Jim Choate ravage at ssz.com
Sun Nov 4 11:10:09 PST 2001



Tim (and other C-A-C-L proponents) have opined that a 'business' has the
'right' to refuse service to anyone for any reason. This is clearly
contrary to both the concept of 'rights' and 'free market' (and is
diametricaly opposed to what C-A-C-L proponents claim(!) to want).

Things don't have rights. A business is a thing. It is a mechanism whereby
one or more people get from here to there. It is analgous to a bicycle and
moving from point A to point B. While the people riding the bike clearly
have a right to get from A to B by any mechanism that doesn't interfere
with others it is a long slide into insanity to then say the bike has
equivalent 'rights'.

A business can refuse to serve anyone they desire for any reason, but the
market such a business operates in is not(!!!) a free market by any
definition that folks like von Mises or Hayek would recognize as such. Now
C-A-C-L proponents claim (of which this is just another example of their
hypocrisy or ignorance - take your pick [1]) that they want to create a
free market that is universal in all human activity. Clearly this isn't
possible operating under Tim and his supporters particular brand of 'free'
which is nothing more than 'freedom for me, not for thee'. A business has
the RESPONSIBILITY to refuse service to anyone which threatens that
business' operations. They also have a responsibility to make that
reaction as minimaly invasive as possible in all cases, no exceptions.

There is no "..., but..." in free market or American democracy.

[1] Never ascribe to malice what can be attributed to incompetence.


 --
    ____________________________________________________________________

             Day by day the Penguins are making me lose my mind.

                                             Bumper Sticker

       The Armadillo Group       ,::////;::-.          James Choate
       Austin, Tx               /:'///// ``::>/|/      ravage at ssz.com
       www.ssz.com            .',  ||||    `/( e\      512-451-7087
                           -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'-
    --------------------------------------------------------------------





More information about the cypherpunks-legacy mailing list