4 ms·
Money isn't speech. Money is power. If the Proud Boys want to set up their own media outlet, nobody's stopping them. They can do whatever they can to convince
by vinceguidry 6y ago
Money isn't speech. Money is power.
If the Proud Boys want to set up their own media outlet, nobody's stopping them. They can do whatever they can to convince people that they're good folks.
However taking and spending money, that's not something anybody can do for any reason. We have lots of regulations on commerce, and unless there's very good reason for it, we don't force anyone to do business with anyone.
We force companies to hire and fire in non-discriminatory manners, again, because money is power, and discrimination is punching down, and we as a society don't like that.
In order to do this, we use the force of law. Adding a protected group to the categories of people that we cannot discriminate against requires legislative action. There's a public debate and legislators' votes go on record. We use legislation to regulate the aggregation and use of power.
The legal remedy for breaking that is a lawsuit. It's a long, drawn out process whose primary deterrent mechanism is punitive damages. Being the company that has to pay that black person millions of dollars because you decided they weren't worth hiring is not a fun time.
That's the way the system works. If Epik feels they have standing for a discrimination lawsuit against PayPal, I'm sure their lawyers have already it drawn up. Something tells me they won't.
The Proud Boys are just going to have to find someone else to handle their money.