| Notes | Book |
Authoritarians argue against giving people freedom in one area because it would screw up their functioning rackets in another area. For example, they say the state should have a law against riding without a helmet because the state requires hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability or willingness to pay. That puts taxpayers on the hook for motorcycle accidents.
Authoritarians conveniently forget that if we gave people the freedom to not wear helmets, and hospitals the freedom to turn away any patient, the free market would do a much better job of managing the risk and resource allocation than any number of corrupt and overpaid bureaucrats.
The current fuss about discrimination is another example of that kind of argument. The proponents of a law that prohibits discrimination argue that because the business owner has a license from the state to do business and collect taxes for the state, she must welcome anyone, that chooses to enter her place of business.
The fact is that requiring a business license, or any other kind of license, is an oppressive and counterproductive extortion racket. We should all have the same rights and privileges to manage our own transactions without needing a mother-may-I license from the state.
Even the totalitarian government of the USA is not going to pass a law compelling you to allow anyone at all to come and sit in your living room.
If we all had equal rights to do business we would also all have the freedom to choose what kind of business we did and with whom.
Freedom works. Slavery sucks.