Bigotry is Bad for Business

Chris Hughes, Co-founder of Facebook

As you can tell from my previous post, I don't have much patience with people who are willing to deny an American citizen their rights.  It's simple: this is America, and we have rights.  Those rights don't get to be threatened and denied just to make some people feel like they're better than others.  Because of that, I didn't get too much into any other reasons.  If we're arguing against slavery, should we have to bring up economic reasons to end it?  That's nothing short of insulting.

But there are other reasons, too.  Chris Huges, one of the founders of Facebook and a native of North Carolina, explains too the Wall Street Journal that discrimination like this is more than just morally reprehensible, it's bad for business, as well.

Hughes . . . who is engaged to social activist Sean Eldridge, says the move will chase entrepreneurs like himself out of the region and hobble job-creation efforts at a time when state unemployment is above 10%.

He's even said that he'll donate $10 for every person who "Likes" the Facebook page of Equality NC, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to equal rights.  (Up to $10,000.)  Good for you, Chris.

Lots of people talk about conservatives as if they just have different priorities.  Republicans are said to care about business so much because they think that happy, unregulated  and un-taxed businesses are the only thing that can pull us out of our economic slump.  And sure, 90% of the time, a Republican lawmaker will go out of his way to give a corporation anything it wants, regardless of the individual citizens that he hurts along the way.

But then you see something like this.  It's pretty clear that when it comes down to the line, Republicans are more concerned with controlling our lives than they are helping businesses.  Or maybe they just don't want any new businesses.  After all, their campaign trails are paid for by the old businesses, who feel like they'd do better without the competition from any fresh new business.

Maybe it's more fair to say that they "making things better" isn't really something Republicans care about at all.