laurann{at}sprintmail.com wrote:
> greg1199{at}yahoo.com wrote:

[...]

> > The right to associate freely includes the right to _not_ associate
> > with people you don't like.  Now this is being eroded.
> >
> > It would be great if the little ladies showed up at the next
meeting
> > only to find an empty room.  Perhaps they'd sue for that too.
> >
> > [...]
>
> I certainly wouldn't be interested in joining the club. But Greg,
> you're more than welcome to join our Mommy and Me group.

Well, I do appreciate the offer.

> You don't even need a toddler.  How's that for equality.
>
> I would think the only time a club cannot be exclusionary is when
> business is done within these groups since that would put women, men,
> minorities, etc. (whatever group not allowed in the club) at an
unfair
> disadvantage.

But if we say that, then we're back to monitoring them and deciding
whether we'll let them associate freely, and it really shouldn't be our
choice.

For a free society, it is essential that people be able to say to each
other, "I don't want power over you.  I don't want the ability to
control your actions.  I don't want a say in what you do."  Those
statements have to be unconditional, unless someone harms others.

PJ O'Rourke put this well in his "Liberty Manifesto," given at the
opening of the Cato Institute.

"I don't know what's good for you. You don't know what's good for me.
We don't know what's good for mankind. And it sometimes seems as though
we're the only people who don't. It may well be that, gathered right
here in this room tonight,are all the people in the world who don't
want to tell all the people in the world what to do."

> But if it's just a bunch of guys talking about the Packers while
> smoking cigars, I believe that most women would pass.

I certainly would pass.  But if there were no cigars, and it was about
the Cowboys, I'd have to be there.
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