re: "I'm opposed to discrimination in government & business."
Me too. But whereas in government, the better known types of discrimination should be repressed via legislation, in business, they should be resisted only with appropriate social and market pressures.
I would fight tooth and nail to preserve the right for private entities to discriminate. It's one of those "I might not like what you say, but I'd fight to protect your right to say it" sort of things. After all, every human discriminates. It is a fundamental part of being a free human being. We have freedom of thought.
If I choose not to like someone, for WHATEVER reason, rational or irrational, so be it. That person is welcome to not like me either.
Government is different - since the person I don't like has as much right to government's benefits as the person administering the service does.
Government has NO business favoring one citizen over another.
And that brings us full circle. It is the reason why I have strong feelings about protecting minority groups - including the wealthy. Treat everyone equally. Ethically, government CANNOT charge one citizen more for his citizenship than you do another, or persecute one group less than any other.
Billing for service usage, on the other hand, makes perfect sense. Toll roads are an excellent example of this.
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
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