Sometimes we have to be personally impacted by a government policy in order to fully appreciate the power and consequences of government interference in the marketplace and on real people. As this story illustrates, a group of Durham citizens understands exactly what their council members are considering, and the citizens realize what the consequences will be. They understand that if the city council proceeds with a proposal to favor one business over another — in this case, a jazz club — it will create an unfair, unlevel playing field. The council is thinking of appropriating $175,000 to prop up a jazz club, but a bookstore owner who also has jazz events is rightly crying foul and understands that taxpayer dollars will be subsidizing his competition. From the News & Observer (emphasis is mine):
Council member Cora Cole-McFadden said she had favored the grant for McLaughlin. “But I am concerned now,” she said, “and I need to hear more about Bruce Bridges and the plight of the Know Book Store.”
Bridges called it “the oldest African-American-owned bookstore in North Carolina … as well as a local institution.”
Besides books on black history and culture, the Know includes a restaurant and holds a weekly jazz night. More than 20 citizens spoke to support Bridges and his store. Some complained that, in funding the McLaughlin project, the city would be using taxpayers’ money to displace one business with another.
Indeed. This should have been the lede. The appropriate role of government is to provide services the citizens cannot provide on their own. It is inappropriate for government, via elected officials, to arbitrarily decide that one person or business deserves to be propped up by taxpayers, while other businesses don’t. Investors and customers making choices in the marketplace will decide which businesses prosper and which don’t.
