You Didn’t Build That!

By Keith Weiner

November 2, 2016

“We need to make it illegal for companies to discriminate.” This applies to employees, and even customers.

Well, either such discrimination—really bigotry—is good for the company, or it isn’t. Either companies benefit from racial or gender preferences in employees, or they don’t. Either bakers benefit from turning away paying customers who want cakes, or not (without discussing those rare cases where someone wants to force the baker to bake a cake with a hateful message on it).

Perhaps you believe that corporate decisions made by bigotry are not good for companies. Then why the need for a law at all?

If you believe that corporate decisions made by bigotry are good for companies, then that would seem to justify laws to ban it. Well, it would justify it if you believe that the proper purpose of law is to force people to act against their own judgment for the sake of someone else’s good…

…Wait, why is it in the interest of employers to fire the blacks (to name one legally protected group)? If you want go there, then realize that there is no way to make this case without promoting overt racism. Think about it. Take as long as you need.

Perhaps you believe that corporate decisions made by bigotry are not good for companies. Then why the need for a law at all? Do you seriously argue that people need to be forced to use cars rather than horses, to use computers rather than do their books using paper ledgers, and to live in houses rather than be exposed to the elements? Self-interest is its own motivator.

And if the purpose of this law is to help companies, how do you justify fining them, punishing them, and or even bankrupting them?

Antidiscrimination law is entirely uncontroversial. It’s universally supported by the Left, nearly universally on the Right, and even some Libertarians promote it. Yet it’s based on logic so flawed that in a rational culture that actually taught logic in school, middle school students would all be able to write essays explaining why such law is contradictory.

Everyone supports it, yet it’s simple to show it’s bad. Hmm, think about that for a while.

What’s a possible moral justification for forcing business owners to act against their own judgment in favor of the judgment of the collective?

“There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own — nobody.” – Elizabeth Warren, campaign speech 2011

“If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” – Barack Obama, campaign speech 2012

The Left is clear about their view. You do not get credit, and you do not own your business by right. When the government taxes you, taxes you some more, regulates you, and licenses you, it has the right. Because you didn’t build that.

As with so many issues, the Right seemingly opposes the Left. Certainly, there was outrage at the outright, open expressions of communist ideology from Warren and Obama. But let’s drill a bit deeper. Let’s look at a litmus test to see if Conservatives really believe that you own your business. Or perhaps they accept that you are a mere steward of the people’s resources, for the good of the people.

Can you hire or not hire anyone? After all, if you did build that, then it’s yours by right. And as a matter of right, you can decide who to hire. Right?

Not so fast. Here is what President George Bush, considered to be a Conservative, said at the signing of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990:

“It will guarantee fair and just access to the fruits of American life which we all must be able to enjoy.”

This is a law forcing businesses to do what they did not agree to do. Who built that business again, Mr. Bush? But this Conservative does not think that way. He thinks of it as “access” to the “fruits of American life.” Access to what? Fruits grown by whom, Mr. Bush??

He continued:

“And then, specifically, first the ADA ensures that employers covered by the act cannot discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities.”

Clearly a mere steward has no right to hire based on his own preferences.

Then he made it even more clear:

“Second, the ADA ensures access to public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, shopping centers, and offices.”

Who built that? No matter! Mr. Bush declared your business to be “public accommodations.” And in his view, it’s the role of the government to grant people “access”—to force you to share it with them. How far is the view of Mr. Bush from that of Ms. Warren and Mr. Obama?

OK who else, aside from the Conservatives and the Left, thinks you didn’t build that? Consider the following recent dialog:

“If we discriminate on the basis of religion, to me, that’s doing harm to a big class of people.” – Politician
“The Jewish baker should have to bake the cake for the Nazi wedding?” – Moderator
“That would be my contention.” – Politician

The politician is, of course, Libertarian Gary Johnson. He does not necessarily think that you built that business any more than Bush or Obama. Johnson sees the question in terms of whether “we” should discriminate.

Who is this “we”? One is left to conclude that he means those people who really built your business. The public, presumably.

The Left may be more brazen, more willing to go there, more shameless in taking your business away from you. First in theory, morally, by declaring that you are not a creator or hard worker or whatever it takes to build a business. Then, in practice, by setting no limits to taxation, regulation, permits, and compliance.

The only way to justify coercing you to “grant access,” the only justification to force a Jewish baker to serve a Nazi cake, is on grounds that it’s not really yours.

However, the Right and even the Libertarians are on board the same boat. They may stick to humanitarian imagery. They typically prefer to couch their desire to control your business in more palatable terms. But government control of your business stinks all the same.

At root, it necessarily comes back to the same principle. The only way to justify coercing you to “grant access,” the only justification to force a Jewish baker to serve a Nazi cake, is on grounds that it’s not really yours.

You didn’t build that, so shut up and let the government manage it for the benefit of others!

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About the Author: Keith Weiner

Keith Weiner is president of the Gold Standard Institute USA in Phoenix, AZ, and CEO of precious metals fund manager Monetary Metals. He created DiamondWare, a technology company that he sold to Nortel Networks in 2008. He speaks and writes about free markets, money, credit, and gold.

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