Some commentators have claimed Rand Paul’s not really a libertarian.
They say his way-beyond-the-bounds-of-acceptable-discourse thoughts on corporate rights, including the right to discriminate and the right to pollute, aren’t what libertarianism’s really about.
I believe they are.
I’ve had arguments with big-L and little-l libertarians at several occasions over the past couple of decades. They’re particularly plentiful on the Microsoft campus, where the idea of a pro-corporatism that doesn’t want to ban pot smoking is popular.
And yes, a few of these gents and ladies believe there should be as few restrictions as possible on what businesses can do. In an ideal world, they feel, there would be no such restrictions at all, except when they would unduly infringe upon the rights of other businesses.
So yeah, by these folks it should be quite all right for restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and stores to refuse service to nonwhites.
And oil spills? Unfortunate, and wasteful, to be sure. And they do infrringe on the rights of other businesses, including those in the fishing and tourism industries. But, this line of reasoning goes, that’s no reason to seek vengeance against any poor li’l oil company—a company that didn’t mean any harm, but was just trying to make a buck.
Being “only in it for the money” is some libertarians’ all purpose guilt dissolver. In the mid ’80s I had a spirited chat with an ad saleswoman, about some international arms dealer who’d been accused of funneling weapons to Iran or Libya or such. This woman insisted he’d done nothing wrong, because he hadn’t personally taken sides for or against these countries. He was just out for the money. Nothing wrong with that, right?
In the past two or three years, some of us have learned there can be a lot that’s wrong with that.
The U.S. ruling philosophy of “I Got Mine, Screw You” is older than the second Bush Presidency. Heck, it’s older than the first Bush Presidency. And it needs to be replaced.
Here’s one potential replacement ideology: Bertrand Russell’s Ten Commandments.
