Why Do Anti-Racist Republicans Hate the Free Market?

A few months ago, Ben Shapiro went on record advocating for hunting down racists and harming their careers.

“It would be idiotic to think otherwise. Of course there are legitimate racists and we should target them and we should find them and we should ruin their careers because racism is unacceptable.”

Rightly so, actually right-wing voices like Vox Day (who has had Shapiro’s number since the early 2000’s) called Ben out on his authoritarian baloney.

Flash forward a few months, a hoax and a resignation from Breitbart later, Shapiro has responded to the right wing’s rejection of his anti-racist framework. In the article “BREAKING: Apparently, I’m Now A Social Justice Warrior!,” Shapiro makes the argument that what he said was fine because he meant we should harm the careers of those who enact racist ideas instead of those who just express racist ideas. This is absurd and runs counter to his supposed love of the free market.

Let’s pretend a widget business is run by a fellow who refuses to hire Blacks. If that is an irrational policy, a similar company—without these horrible racist rules—can swoop in and outcompete the other company. It will have a bigger pool of talent to pull from, and as such, customers will move from Company Racist to the functionally better Company Perfect Equality.

However, if Company Racist (CR) continues to thrive and outcompete Company Perfect Equality (CPE), the wrongthink policies of CR must better reflect reality than CPE’s policies.

Why, then, should we enact Ben Shapiro’s vision of social justice on Company Racist? If their policies are wrong, they’ll lose out naturally. If their policies are working and they’re thriving, why should they be hunted down by the mob and harmed? It’s just good business. In America’s capitalist market, there is no need for the pearl-clutching anti-racists to tinker around.

Let’s put it in terms that Ben may better understand. For argument’s sake, let’s say a Jewish barber lives in a town where a bunch of evil White nationalists exist. These White nationalists are so horrid, they think that White people have the right to live in a country without any Blacks, Asians, or Jews. Currently, these monstrous White nationalists live in peace–albeit through gritted teeth–with Blacks, Asians, and even Jews.

The Jewish barber, understandably uncomfortable around White nationalists, should be allowed to ban whites from entering his shop. Yes, such a policy would be racist. That’s OK! If the barber doesn’t create enough value for the rest of the community, his business will fail. If the business doesn’t fail, that means the barber is still creating value.

If there is enough demand, an inclusive barber shop will pop up. The racist Jewish barber is happy, the new barber shop is happy, and the evil White nationalists are happy. There’s nothing wrong with discrimination.

Perhaps Shapiro and his authoritarian ilk are ignorant regarding basic economics. Maybe they wish to control discourse and set the boundaries of acceptable political discourse. It’s probably a mix of both. Either way, they don’t bother to make an actual case why their version of the PC police is any better than the current version of the PC police.

Is all of Conservatism, Inc. this lacking in intellectual rigor? No wonder the last thirty years have consisted of nothing but failure for the self-proclaimed voices of the right.