Expecting Corporations to “Do the Right Thing”

Recently, Bill Maher had Reason magazine’s Nick Gillespie on his show. Predictably, the real issues got lost in all of the hot air and self-righteous indignation. Bill Maher accused libertarians of expecting corporations to “do the right thing” in a world without rules or regulations. This is a strawman. I don’t expect businesses to “do the right thing”. I expect them to compete for my business. It’s you and I as consumers that decide which businesses fail or succeed. Rules and regulations would still exist but they would be decided by market forces, not ballot boxes. They would be enforced by boycotts, not violence.

The standard reply is, “It’s nice in theory that people would not purchase from them but the vast majority of people that say they won’t shop somewhere will, if the prices are right or if they have no other options available.” But then how can people say that they value something if they don’t act on it accordingly?

What would you make of a person that talked about Porsche’s all day long, raved and raved about how they were the best automobiles and all others were shit, they are so fanatical that they even named their daughter Porsche, but when offered the choice between a free Porsche and a free equivalent market value Mercedes-Benz, they chose the Mercedes-Benz. How could you still claim that they like Porsche better?

The point is, actions speak louder than words. If people refuse to act on their ideals, they don’t really believe in them. They’re hypocrites. If people will trash the environment to save 50 cents on toilet paper, they don’t really value the environment as much as they say. It’s not corporations that are failing to “do the right thing”. It’s not a market failure. It’s a personal failure on the part of consumers. Of course, some authoritarians arrogantly think they are justified in using violence to force people to do what they think is best for them, in spite of what the individual actually believes. But that kind of attitude has no place in a free society.