From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Fri Jul 27 2001 - 14:01:45 MDT
> > Olga said:
> > Except to say, that if any of you so-called classical liberals
> > (sometimes this translates to libertarian - is this correct?) can give
> > me your scenario of how you would have solved the segregation problem in
> > the South during the 1950s and 1960s (or earlier, dare one hope?), I'll
> > eat my ACLU membership card.
Pat Fallon replied:
> One of the most famous segregation problems was telling Blacks to move to
> the back of the bus. IIRC, that was a municipal bus company, or one
granted
> a monopoly by the state.
There were a myriad of segregation problems - theaters, restaurants,
schools, drinking fountains, etc. were segregated (can you imagine being a
black child - and the horror of growing up in a society like that?);
lynching "happened" sometimes; so called anti-miscegenation laws existed in
many states; there were no voting "rights." Even if the problem of sitting
at the "back-of-the-bus" tradition got solved (the way I see it from the
libertarian perspective - and forgive me if I'm not up on all the
libertarian perspectives, I'm on a steep learning curve here - blacks would
then have been free to set up their own bus businesses, and there would have
been more busses in general (without the monopoly); and (lo-and-behold!) the
problem of sitting at the back of the busses would indeed have been banished
forever because blacks would then have had their own busses in which to sit,
as well as whites). Therefore, I think better and more "improved"
segregation would have happened as a result - not less segregation
(unacceptable to begin with).
Libertarians don't favor
> outlawing stupidity, but stupidity should have its costs.
I'm not in favor of outlawing stupidity, either - only de jure
discrimination (legal bigotry). Laws can't stop people from bigots if they
choose, but laws can hold schools, certain businesses, etc. accountable, so
that bigotry can at least be held in check as much as possible. Bigotry
should have its costs.
Thanks for your comments,
Olga
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:09:12 MST