No Credentials Needed

In previous posts I have often noted that I attempt to stay away from political topics in this space, partly because none of my degrees are in any relevant discipline, but also because I find it impossible to believe that anyone needs another political blog. I have also pointed out that no matter how extreme my personal beliefs should happen to become, the diligent reader should still be able to find dozens (if not millions) of bloggers who completely agree with me, completely disagree with everything I believe, or any possible gradation in between. It is only when a political position or legislative action will have a specific impact on business that it comes into my purview, and even then I try to remain within the areas of analysis in which I have the proper credentials. However, this week’s legislative lunacy in the state of Mississippi requires no training beyond that which any pre-teen already has…

If you would like to, you can access the Washington Post article about the situation, which also contains the link to the exact language of the legislation. If I’m reading it correctly, however, this new law would allow any business in the state of Mississippi to refuse service to anyone whom the owners have a “sincerely held” religious belief against serving. While very clearly aimed at the LGBT community, there’s nothing here that would prevent someone from refusing service to Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Atheists, Agnostics, Democrats, Liberals, Native Americans, persons of African ancestry, persons of Asian ancestry, persons of Hispanic, Latino or Chicano ancestry, doctors, lawyers, teachers, soldiers, community organizers, or clog dancers – provided that they had a “sincerely held” belief that serving those individuals was somehow forbidden by their religion…

Personally, I can’t help wondering what would happen if someone were to declare that serving racists, sexists, ultra-nationalists or bigots of any description was against their religion. But even if we leave the obvious logical disconnect out of it, this legislation still makes no sense for at least two reasons that have nothing to do with political ideology. On the one hand, refusing service to anyone on the basis of what demographic group they fall into is a direct violation of the First Rule of Business: When somebody comes to you and says “Hello, I would like to give you money now,” you say, “YES!” No one is asking you to love all of your neighbors and accept them as your brothers and sisters – although if you’re a Christian that’s exactly what your faith is asking you to do – they’re just asking you to do business with them to your mutual benefit…

On the other hand, passing this kind of law will offend many other potential business partners, the vast majority of whom will not have any direct connection to the group or groups of people whom you hate. The fact is, simple pig-ignorant bigotry is bad for business, and being associated with a city or state that condones such bigotry is, if possible, even worse. We’ve seen examples of that recently, with North Carolina’s extraordinary restroom legislation leading to the loss of hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars added to the local economy, and the NCAA threatening to pull out of Indianapolis. None of those previous cases was quite as blatant as this one, however, and the fact that Mississippi is already widely regarded as the poorest and most backward of all of the states is definitely not going to help. Unless something changes soon, any remaining chance the state had of attracting either new businesses or additional tourism is going to evaporate…

Now, I don’t mean to suggest that forward planning is a particularly easy job. I have made my living that way on several occasions, and trying to anticipate all of the factors that can improve or erode performance in advance can be extremely complex, let alone trying to predict the eventual success or failure of an enterprise. But when the action you are considering is so flawed that an ordinary ten-year-old can explain several important reasons why you shouldn’t do it, then it’s probably time to hire someone else to do your forward planning – or at least explain to you why choosing religious ideology (or outright bigotry) over profit is a bad idea…