Tyler Grudi’s article last week in the Bonaventure raised interesting questions about discrimination. He argues that government should not force people into associating with one another, that free-market capitalism will work this out as people see best.
However, Grudi and many others fail to note an important difference between forcing two individuals to associate with one another and forcing an institution to sell products to an individual. The institutions in question are corporations under the law of the land, and as such they enjoy many benefits by virtue of being corporations. And if corporations expect to enjoy benefits by virtue of being corporations, then they must also expect to live up to the law of the land, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, among other things.
So, if I have a guitar I want to sell, I would argue that, as an individual, if I don’t want to sell it to this person or that person for whatever prejudicial reason I may have, that’s my prerogative. But when I open a business under the laws of the state in order to sell guitars and profit from the laws of the state in doing so, I should expect to have to abide by other laws of the state, too.
And when a state such as Mississippi passes a law that allows businesses, which profit from the laws of the state, to discriminate against others in ways that federal law prescribes, Mississippi itself should expect that law in time to be overturned by the Supreme Court as violating rights of others protected by the Constitution.
This, in part, was what the Montgomery Bus Boycott was all about. We had a bus company that was willing to do business with African Americans, but only on certain prejudicial terms. Alabama’s court ruled that the boycott against the bus company–a free-market attempt, incidentally, to influence business decisions– itself violated Alabama’s laws, and the Supreme Court told Alabama to take a hike. Unless our country has taken a step or two backward, I expect in time that the Supreme Court will tell Mississippi to take the same hike.
If businesses wish to profit from the laws of the land, they should expect to do so by abiding by all the laws of the land, including laws that prohibit discrimination.
We cannot expect Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” to guarantee people the treatment they deserve. That’s why we have governments.
Barry Gan is a professor of philosophy at St. Bonaventure. His email is bgan@sbu.edu
