A failure of Logic, or a Slip of the Mask?

It seems that Chris Grayling, MP, Shadow Home Secretary has been "caught" agreeing with the idea that owners of Bed and Breakfast accommodation should be free to "turn away" gay couples.

This story broke some time ago when a couple running such an establishment turned away a gay couple who had booked a double room, but now a Tory has been covertly pinned down on the issue. We see the Tory Blogger Iain Dale distancing himself from his fellow party member in addition to the usual howls of indignation from the Left and, on occasion, the conceit of "settled consensus". Heard that before?

It is all the more disappointing that Iain Dale has had a logic failure here, considering he is, IMHO, thought of by some as a good "advert" for gay, neither hiding it nor shoving it into peoples' faces, precisely the sort of outwardly reasonable, rational person who you would think would understand the Rule of Law that has now enabled him to live his life pretty much as he pleases, without the views of the Mob kicking his door in physically and metaphorically. I did not take him for a ladder-kicker. I hope he reconsiders his position, I really do.

We see some people stating that there should be nothing that prevents one gaining services in the free market.

Yes, and no. It is not that simple, as conflation has occured, there are two parties involved, remember.

Let us break down this B&B situation, i.e. free trade and "the market", into its logical components.

Is it right to force someone to take/pay for a service? No. That is a form of extortion, racketeering. It is coercion.

Is it right to prevent someone seeking a service? No. This is oppression. Witness the great wrong in preventing girls gaining an Education under the Taliban.

Is it right to prevent someone offering a service? No. This too is oppression.

Is it right to force someone to deliver a service against their will? No. This is oppression and coercion, i.e. a form of Slavery.


The market has one key facet: Voluntary exchange.


Forcing someone by "law", actually in this case it can only really be called "regulation", to exchange their services is not voluntary. It is not free trade, it is not the market, but enforced, coerced "trade".

It is still disappointing yet no surprise that many on the Left cannot see this distinction and focus on one side of the transaction. It might be that they look upon exchange through the prism of Statism, of people interacting with a monopolistic State or State services. If there were a monopolistic State run B&B, heaven forbid*, I would be there demanding it to be open to all and not discriminate. But that is not what is happening here. We are talking about something I really do think many of the Left do not understand at a fundamental level: Free enterprise and freedom in general.

It is ironic indeed that many on the Left wrongly condemn Libertarians as people who want to do what they like and hang the views of others, to trample over people irrespective of their feelings "because we want to and we can". This has always and will always be a shockingly disingenuous canard, for Libertarians respect the individual and as such one just does not do such things irrespective of the superior freedoms of others to their own life and property. How ironic, then, that the Left are shouting that people should be "free" to thrust themselves upon others and make them work for them against their will "because they have a right to".

This comes back to a point I admit I might bore people with. The different concepts of "rights" and "freedoms".

A "right" is something, an entitlement, that is the responsibility of, or needs to be furnished and paid for by, others. A "freedom", on the other hand is the absence of coercion. If there is any responsibility, it is upon the one exercising the freedom to be accountable for their actions in not impinging on equal or superior freedoms of others.

In the case of the B&B'ers, we see one group shouting for the rights of Gays to demand de facto slavery from the B&B'ers, and on the other side we have Libertarians, shouting for the freedoms of all.

Now imagine if the B&Bers were Prostitutes. Now revisit your stance on the right to refuse trade. Now what do you think?


* Imagine it. Only open 9-5 Mon-Fri (half day Wednesday), Shut during all bank holidays, school holidays and an additional 4 weeks off for staff holidays and 5 Inset days. One size room and same cost. Breakfast is charged regardless of if you want it or eat it and if there is an [insert group here] staying you must not order any [insert food group here] for fear of upsetting them. In fact you are not "allowed" to eat breakfast outside otherwise you will be denounced for undermining the quality of other people's breakfasts in state run B&Bs by not subjecting your children to them.