Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Social Evolution
Friday, April 03, 2015 by Jonathan R. Gibbons inIndiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) (Indiana 119th… 2015) provides a private business owner with a legal defense for discriminating against individuals if it conflicts with their religious beliefs. As Jonathan Cohn of the liberal Huffington Post explains, “The goal is to give business owners a stronger legal defense if they refuse to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender customers and want to cite their faith as justification for their actions” (Cohn, 2015). Likewise, Jonah Goldberg of the conservative National Review explains, “If someone feels their religious rights have been violated, they can go to court and make their case. That’s it.” (Goldberg 2015). They’ve both essentially come to the same synopsis of the RFRA. One outcome of the RFRA is clear: it provides private business owners with a legal defense to discriminate based on religious grounds.
Issues like these are where intellectually consistent libertarians run into problems with liberals. Should a privately-owned business have the right to refuse service to someone? Yes. Presumably most Americans would agree depending on the reasons why the service is being refused. Therein resides the crux of the various contentions surrounding laws which permit, whether explicitly or implicitly, discrimination by private business owners. When should private business discrimination be permitted under the law?
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Ichabod Crane Takes Modern Banking to Task
Thursday, October 16, 2014 by Jonathan R. Gibbons in
Fox’s “Sleepy Hallow” is a creative show which has found a way to incorporate a time traveling American Founding Father who provides hysterical commentary on current American idiocies (i.e. every political science and American history scholar’s wet dream), into a plot based on Washington Irving’s classic short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hallow”. Writer’s Mark Goffman and Albert Kim brilliantly provide a critique of modern banking and monetary policy in Season 2 Episode 2, “The Kindred”.
Ichabod Crane, played by Tom Mison, goes on a rant when a bank representative tries to offer him a credit card, “It is this kind of gross invitation to indulgence that mocks the power of the invisible hand to foster the true wealth of nations.” Thomas Jefferson is also quoted in the scene as having said, “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies.” This is most likely an authentic quote despite the often spurious forms it takes.
Regardless of Goffman and Kim’s possible intentions behind the script, let’s dissect this brilliant quote:
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