I'm all for freedom of association. For example, if you don't want to...
· Comment — Melody Mustaine's post · View on Facebook · Markdown source
I'm all for freedom of association. For example, if you don't want to associate with Mexicans, don't hire them, don't go to Mexican restaurants, don't invite them to your home. However, nativists don't just want freedom of association for themselves. Nativists want to dictate who _other people_ associate with. For example, if I want to hire a Mexican to work for my company, nativists want armed government thugs to stop me and the would-be co-worker from doing so. If I want to rent to a Mexican, they want to put both of us in prison if we don't seek government permission first (which is extremely difficult and costly to get). How is this consistent with "freedom of association"? It seems to me that it violates the freedom of association for myself, and the foreign born I with whom I would otherwise associate. It also violates a whole host of other ethical and legal principles rightwingers generally claim to support: property rights free trade people should be treated as innocents until proven guilty no collective punishment all men humans are created equal opposition to socialism What's more socialist than a centralized government bureaucracy dictating where we can live and work?