JohnStOnge wrote:Public accomodation was not invented to justify government intrusion, it was to allow citizens to participate fully in marketplace, and therefore in the country governance and success, regardless of color.
Of COURSE it was invented to justify government intrusion. When I'm selling something and government says that I can't freely choose who I sell it to that's government intrusion. I don't see how anyone could argue otherwise. Now, you could argue that it justifies government intrusion because the government intrusion is justified. An ends justify means argument. I would disagree with the idea that government intruding in order to deny people free choice in who they enter into commerce with and/or associate with is justified. But at least we'd agree on the reality of it being government intrusion.
I just really, really disagree with the idea that you, me, or anybody else has the right to force someone else to associate with us or enter into commerce with us. Such laws do not further the cause of liberty; they are substantial attacks upon liberty.
I think someone earlier mentioned the utopic nature of libertarian beliefs, and it's on full display here. Again, the theme that government is somehow seperate from the people or the "market".
It would be really nice if every person and every business honored contracts, but alas, that doesn't always happen. It would be nice if all drinking establishments refused to over-serve and/or sell booze to intoxicated people and minors. But that too doesn't always happen. So we agree as a society, through our collective experience, to certain standards, laws, and rules of the market, and it's our government (the one that belongs to us) that enforces them.
Are we always going to agree on the laws? Hell no. Are the laws sometimes going to be a ginormous pain in the ass that have business owners like me mumbling about the nanny state? Hell yes. But at least we have a say in the process and the right to change things we don't like through voting.
Without government intervention, the market can still exist but it won't be fair, honest, or beneficial to the majority of society.
p.s. Notice how I chose the word "collective"? That's for all you whiny-ass McCarthyites.
