> In those cases, it was just one law overriding another law, That gets +2 points, for dismantling what appeared to be a decent argument. Jeremy Sent from my iPod. ...because my other device is a BB Storm. On Aug 20, 2010, at 12:30 AM, Harry Penner <hpenner at gmail.com> wrote: > Actually the racism-in-America thing is a particularly bad example > of what you're trying to assert. Assuming you're talking about the > Civil Rights Act, it was enacted at least in part to override > southern Jim Crow laws which codified discrimination. In other > words, in at least some states the law actually *prevented* > employers, service providers, restaurants, etc from treating blacks > equally regardless of what companies wanted to do, be it good or be > it bad... didn't it? In those cases, it was just one law overriding > another law, not a case of the government freeing us from the > (presumed) tyranny of the free market. Just sayin'. > > On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 5:06 PM, Mike Miller <mbmiller+l at gmail.com> > wrote: > On Thu, 19 Aug 2010, J.A. Simmons V wrote: > > > When you sign a contract with your ISP, what do you expect in > return? I > > expect a "tube" to the internet. I do not want a content provider > like > > cable TV. I want a connection to what ever destination I want, > like a > > freeway. Some people would rather have a content provider, and > that is > > fine. Without regulations, both business models can exist through > the > > free market. > > Not necessarily. With a free market, you get what you get. There > are no > guarantees. > > For example, people used to say that a free market would solve the > problem > of racism because companies that refused to hire people just because > they > were black would not compete as effectively as companies that based > hiring > decisions on ability alone. It did not work that way. Companies > avoided > hiring high-ability black workers for a number of reasons (e.g., > most of > our customers are probably racists who won't want to work with a black > sales rep). It was necessary for the government to force companies to > eliminate racial bias in hiring. Government regulation was able to > fix > what a free market could not fix. > > Yes, the regulation was a restriction on freedom -- the freedom of > companies to hire an all-white work force, or the freedom of white > workers > not to associate with black people -- but the same regulation > enhanced the > freedom and opportunity of the black workers. > > Mike > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20100820/71ffc9a2/attachment-0001.htm