❝❝There are two assumptions implicit in public accommodation laws. First is that there is a class of people who no matter what can never ever do things on their own. Second is that most people no matter what can never ever be trusted to do the right thing.

I think both assumptions are wrong.

---

Good law has been used for bad purposes since someone bothered to write down the law. The question you should ask is which is more important, freedom or misuse of the law?

It's my old friend, the parity test. If Christians can be barred from living their faith, what's to stop pagans from being barred from living theirs? Or atheists, Muslims, Buddhists, or any of a thousand others?

Just because someone does something you don't like doesn't mean that it should be illegal and that someone should be punished for it. I'd say that the guideline should be measurable harm to someone's person, liberty, and property. Hurting your feelings shouldn't qualify. I deal with the difference between mala in se and mala prohibita laws at my politics blog at www DOT paganvigil DOT com SLASH files SLASH RootsGovPower061204 DOT html.

Incidentally, the right of free association was one of the "understood" rights covered by the Tenth Amendment. After all, the U.S. had just fought a war over it.

---

Up until that time, it was one of the biggest wars about non-association ever fought.

Freedoms seldom clash with each other. Someone wanting to control others through religion isn't freedom, it's politics. Knowing the difference can be helpful.

I'm not responsible for how someone feels, especially since both the feelings and the standards used to justify those feelings change often. Measurable harm to someone's person, property, and liberty is one of the few objective standards we can agree on. A microaggression is what the victim says it is, and some things become microaggressions that weren't last week. It's privilege. I don't have time or energy to indulge it anymore.❞❞

Tags: freedom ∙ misuse of law ∙ parity test ∙ measurable harm ∙ mala in se ∙ mala prohibita ∙ Tenth Amendment ∙ microaggression ∙ victim ∙ privilege

❝❝If you won't honor someone's religious choice, why should they honor yours?

If you are not willing to live with those of other faiths, why should they give way and not you?

Parity. The Golden Rule. It's in your own teachings if you look hard enough.❞❞
     — NeoWayland

Tags: maxims ∙ parity test ∙ Golden Rule ∙ religion ∙ faiths

❝❝It's the old parity test again. And it is the surefire method to tell if a law is mala in se or mala prohibita. ❞❞
     — NeoWayland, United We Stand - Dragging religion into politics

Tags: maxims ∙ parity test ∙ mala in se ∙ mala prohibita

❝❝If I don't share your faith, I shouldn't be bound by it. If you don't share my faith, you shouldn't be bound by it.

This is parity. It can be derived from what Christians call the Golden Rule. It's also called the Ethic of Reciprocity and is arguably the keystone of Western Civilization besides being found in nearly every culture on Earth. Behavioral studies show that a rudimentary form exists in higher mammals. Fair is fair.

One of my "party tricks" is showing that you can build an entire moral, ethical, and legal system based on nothing but the Ethic of Reciprocity. No "Higher Law." No use of force except in defense. No one faith and no one group raised above all others never to be questioned.

Just treating each other as we would want to be treated. Nothing more, nothing less. Live and let live.❞❞

Tags: faith ∙ parity test ∙ Christians ∙ Golden Rule ∙ Western Civilization ∙ ethic of reciprocity ∙ fair is fair ∙ Higher Law ∙ live & let live

Tags: prostitution ∙ mala in se ∙ mala prohibita ∙ vice law ∙ religion ∙ moral ∙ politicos ∙ schools ∙ libraries ∙ luxury ∙ measurable harm ∙ parity test

Almost nobody bothers to ask if the screws should exist in the first place.

Tags: Constitution ∙ right vs. left ∙ Donald Trump ∙ Hillary Clinton ∙ Bill Clinton ∙ Robert A. Heinlein ∙ attacks ∙ government ∙ none of the above ∙ IRS ∙ DOJ ∙ Clinton Foundation ∙ charity ∙ parity test ∙ companion

With government interference, one side exploits the others.

Tags: parity test ∙ classical Greeks ∙ Roman Republic ∙ Judeo-Christian heritage ∙ Western Civilization

I realize the man is trying desperately to make his mark.

Tags: climate change ∙ Prince Charles ∙ parity test ∙ Middle East

Marriage licenses exist so that the licenses can be denied.

Tags: marriage ∙ Utah ∙ American Civil War ∙ alternative marriage ∙ parity test

It’s a scam.

Tags: liberty ∙ all or nothing ∙ parity test

“CNN ATTACKS Duke basketball coach for NOT speaking out against new Indiana Religious Freedom law”

“Everybody's Lost Their Goddamn Mind Over Religious Freedom”

“The overblown hypocrisy of Tim Cook's business boycott of Indiana”

“Sounds like Apple’s CEO needs to disable the ‘hypocrite’ app on his iPhone”

Tags: parity test ∙ religious freedom ∙ Mike Krzyzewski ∙ Duke ∙ Carol Costello ∙ Jack Phillips ∙ Masterpiece Cakeshop ∙ discriminate ∙ free market ∙ skimmed ∙ Tim Cook ∙ Indiana ∙ Apple ∙ discrimination ∙ watching the headlines

Bookworm is looking for scapegoats

Tags: personal freedom ∙ commenting ∙ personal responsiblity ∙ Bookworm ∙ Christianity ∙ parity test ∙ progressive ∙ goal is freedom ∙ modern liberal ∙ freely chosen

I believe that economics and morality should be based in free choice.

Tags: conservative ∙ good intentions ∙ parity test ∙ freely chosen ∙ religion

Cashing in on people's fear

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ speech wars ∙ E pluribus unum ∙ religion ∙ personal responsiblity ∙ Romney ∙ Christianity ∙ mala in se ∙ parity test ∙ freely chosen ∙ mala prohibita ∙ coercive power ∙ moral justification ∙ person of faith ∙ Barry Goldwater ∙ favorites

Does religion really define public morality? Should government control religion?

Tags: Original Vigil ∙ IRS ∙ religion ∙ coercive power ∙ person of faith ∙ multi-cultural ∙ parity test ∙ multi-apologetic