thoseboringpolitics:

drinkthe-koolaid:

Ron Paul suggests basic freedoms depend on property rights

And here we come to what is my biggest problem with the libertarian philosophy. If you pay attention, you realize libertarianism elevates property rights above what most sane, rational people would say are inalienable human rights. It’s narcissism elevated to a political philosophy, and no matter how you dress it up, it’s just plain wrong.

Also, it would never work.

If you notice, a business must maximize profits. To maximize profits, there must be a lot of demand for a good or service. For instance, in a restaurant, the service is food service. Discriminating removes a HUGE clientele. And not just the banned minorities, but whites who find the rule despicable. The business would die; whoever owns the business would be an idiot (both socially and financially). Ron Paul actually states that. People should have the right to be idiots, especially if its dealing with private property. Besides, to utilize freedom of speech entirely, one must be allowed to exercise that freedom with their possessions, such as land.

Jim Crow laws were enforced by government and slavery was one of the largest government enforced institutions in history. The freedom to express and utilize rights and property actually more effectively removes the racism than government does.

Then why did slavery & the Jim Crow laws persist for so long? You say yourself any business that refused to allow equal access should have failed due to market pressures and reduced clientele. And yet these types of behaviors persisted for hundreds of years. If you give people the right to discriminate in business, many will discriminate if they feel it benefits themselves. Saying that the right “to express and utilize rights and property actually more effectively removes the racism than government does” neglects the freedoms of a person to patronize whatever businesses they want to.

As I said in my original post, you cannot elevate property rights above basic human rights, because then you’re stomping the rights of any person who is not a property owner.