I understand no one wants to be the victim of discrimination. Not for the color of their skin. Not for the religion they practice. Not because of their national origin. Not for their sexual preference. Not for their gender identity. The law in Indiana would have allowed all those things. I think the LGBT community got too offended too quickly. Certainly the law would have impacted them. I think however that they missed an opportunity to see the chaos this law would have created. If you are a regular reader then you know I used to work for the Illinois Department of Corrections. It has lots of rules. Books and books and books or rules. If you wanted to bring the prison system to a grinding halt all you have to do is enforce them. Not some of them, ALL of them. Our prison required the officer allowing an inmate to move from one building to another to provide his identification card and be signed out. The officer at the receiving area had to again verify identity and sign him in. We would feed 1,700 inmates lunch in about 2 hours. It was done by counting the number of inmates leaving the housing unit, the number arriving at the dining hall, the number leaving again and the number returning to the housing unit. We knew their were 110 inmates on a housing unit wing and 105 went to eat lunch. We couldn't tell you which 105. If you want things to grind to a halt have one officer sign them out. One at a time. We couldn't feed 1,700 inmates in 6 hours. All the LGBT community had to do was sit back and watch other groups get nailed by the new law. Unintended consequences. The Hobby Lobby decision by the Supreme Court determined that your belief did not have to be reasonable, it had to be closely held. Note the cartoon below.
Now on to those fine folks who wanted the law. They don't want to provide goods or services to folks who practice beliefs contrary to theirs. We love the gays they would claim but don't want to be forced to participate in their gay wedding. I don't understand why this is a problem. Someone wants to pay you money to provide a service. You don't want to. Why are you letting your beliefs get in the way of your business? I saw arguments about someone going to a Jewish deli and requesting a ham sandwich. Okay. Go ahead. The request would be denied. Not because the deli is discriminating against you, it is because they don't have the item you are requesting on the menu. It is not a reasonable comparison. If I go to a florist and request flowers for a wedding and that is a normal part of their business, if they refuse due to my race, creed, color, sexual orientation ect. it is discrimination. If the deli makes ham sandwiches for others but not for you it is discrimination. You can go to Pizza Hut and ask for a T bone steak. You won't get it but they aren't discriminating against you they just don't serve steak. If my business is approached by someone who wants to purchase a product I carry or a service I provide they are going to get that good or service if I can make money in the process. It seem reasonable. It is the essence of free enterprise. It seems like something conservative folks would embrace. They want to put restrictions on themselves that the government doesn't want to impose. Seems stupid to me. It also makes me wonder about the following.
Great inciteful analysis, Mr. Sutor.
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