Does/should the government have a right to force a business to provide customers unrelated services?

Believe it or not, the question has nothing to do with The President elect of the United States.

It is however related to a company in the United States I was reading about recently that was being taken to court for “discrimination”. Basically all I have done is remove the company name and the services they provide. To see what others think about the actions taken by the state.

dis_orient_ed – I am not meaning to single you out. However, based on your answer I can see where some people could be confused by my question.

I agree with what you are saying IF the company was not providing services to make a necessary/helpful product usable people with special needs.

In this case, using your example, of telephones. It would be as if “your company” makes landline telephones. But the “discrimination” charge is saying that because you do not sell or provide services for ship-to-shore radiophones you are discriminating against ship-to-shore users. Thus, according to the legal proceedings you must manufacture set up your own complete operation to be able to produce and sell ship-to-shore radiophones. You cannot simply redirect people to companies that already provide the service (which was one of the suggestion the company offered); instead the state says you must setup everything to provide the service from within your company.

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Of course the actual case has nothing to do with phones or ship-to-shore radios but it is perhaps a more understandable analogy.

Also, keep in mind in the actual case the “forced” service/products are questionably legal and questionably moral to be used in many areas.

I hope this helps make the question easier for everyone to understand.

My opinion . . . before I select best answer.

While I can see the potential issues with discrimination with real the case. Should the government force a company to provide services that sponsor activities which the owners find objectionable, immoral, not to mention still illegal in many areas (though often not enforced).

If any country that claims to be free is truly free, then shouldn’t they let the people have more say in what everyone truly wants? For instance, with this issue, if enough people truly wanted the services that the government is forcing this company to offer, other companies which already provide the service would be thriving, and thus, taking from the “discriminating” company’s profit and thus affecting the company’s income. If that were the case, the company would change it’s business strategy on it’s own. Or if it did not change, it would go under from the loss of revenue.

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Granted there are some things that the government should do, but there comes a point where, in my personal opinion, where the government goes to far. But it is not fair to blame the government totally, for we as a society have often become complacent, wanting someone else to fix all our problems or have the government do something for us. Rather than standing up, taking responsibility and making a stand ourselves.

There was a comment made that we are just individuals, and no one listens to us. Basically that we cannot change anything. Well Guess what? That is exactly how ALL changes start. ONE person has an idea and keeps pushing it. The problem comes when no one challenges the bad ideas or allows twisted/faulty logic to keep the truth silent. Usually by making the people that want to be rational/logical/reasonable appear to be the “bad guys”, by using half truth questions or phrasing questions in such a way that there is no answer other than the one the group wants.

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No one ever said, “Change is easy”. But one individual can make a huge difference. Don’t be afraid to speak up, write letters/email to your elected officials even if you did not vote for them. Believe it or not if enough, individuals that think they can not make any difference, simply take a chance, and challenge the lie we have been taught all our lives is a waste of time; speaking up by talking to people, emailing government, or get really involved and actually attend the government meetings voicing your opinion. Change may not happen quickly but it will happen.

Most people that answered this question agree that the government should not be involved in many of the processes that they currently dictate to us. Change is slow and “the battle” is frustrating but it can and does happen when enough people get involved and keep voicing objections to the problems.

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Especially when people fight for what is truly right, not just for ourselves, but everyone. Not motivated out of profit, greed or power, but simply for doing what is right. For by doing that everyone profits and everyone wins.

The World is at a turning point, even if you believe you can not make a difference, I challenge you no matter where you are on the planet to make even the simplest stand against the things that are wrong. If nothing else simply by asking the people doing the actions, “Why are you doing that?”

Just something to think about,

May Our Creator watch over you and your family.