The Parallel Marketplace and why it is emerging

For nearly a year, Steven Turley, Ph.D., has predicted that a “Parallel Polis” will emerge. The behavior of ostensibly private companies, censoring conservative opinion in ways the government may not, would provoke this. Contributor Bradlee Dean discussed this very phenomenon yesterday. But whereas Mr. Dean questions the legality of these acts, Dr. Turley tells affected customers to take their business elsewhere. But suppose no “elsewhere” exists? Then build it! Which is exactly what some of us are doing, thus forming a Parallel Marketplace.

Centuries of inspiration

Those building the Parallel Marketplace can draw on centuries of inspiration. American colonial settlement began, not with religious separationism (important though that definitely was), but with opportunities for people whom British society left out. A key “probate” custom created a class of ambitious but slighted men: primogeniture. Under it, the eldest son inherited an estate – and the largest estate carried a title of nobility. So most of those who dared sail to America, were the younger sons of dukes, earls, barons, baronets, etc. They had no estate – and thus had nothing to lose.

The closest inspiration for building an institution if one had no such institution to rely upon, probably came from Eliezer Yitzhak Perelman, whom history better remembers as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the “Renovator of the Hebrew Language.” A devotee of the Zionist vision of Theodor Herzl, he told his fellow Jews they would need their own language. Which, at the time, they did not have, but instead spoke the languages of their countries of residence or else that cobbled-together language we call Yiddish today. So when his fellow Jews told Perelman they had no common language, he said, “Fine! Then we will create one!” That language, of course, was Hebrew – which he adapted from strictly liturgical usage by expanding its vocabulary. The Academy of the Hebrew Language continues his work today.

All of which to say: if you have no parallel institution of your own, create it!

Is it ever wise for a business to advertise the politics of its owners or managers?

That depends on whether you want to serve all comers, or take sides. Some businesses are inherently unattractive to one political side or the other. Naturally advertising a political position, or endorsing a candidate, up-front, becomes “a wise thing to do.” You know that some people won’t ever darken your door anyway, and you want to attract those who will.

But until recently, no business that made a product, or performed a service, that everyone needs, would want to take a political side. That’s why IBM, for example, did no such thing, at least in the last century. They informed their employees,

Even in jurisdictions where political campaign contributions are allowed, IBM still will not make them.

They made a judgment that neutrality was the better part of – well, business.

But today we see certain companies taking the side they think cares the more about their opinions. So they adopt left-wing stands, because left-wingers boycott and right-wingers do not. Right?

Wrong! And from thence comes the Parallel Marketoplace

Right-wingers do more than boycott these days. They build their own businesses. From this activity comes the new Parallel Marketplace. If any one thing will certainly change the marketplace, it’s a body of prospective customers willing not only to do without a product or service for a prolonged (but still limited) period of time to put pressure on the provider, but to wait patiently for someone else, simpatico with them from the get-go, to build his own infrastructure to provide that product or service. Which is what you’re now seeing.

So when Mike Lindell saw many traditional businesses refusing to sell his products, he built his own store. Tellingly, one store chain, Bed Bath and Beyond, that “canceled” Mike Lindell, is losing money and closing stores. This while Mike Lindell opened an online store of his own.

Nor is Mike Lindell the only merchant in the Parallel Marketplace. Andrew Torba has been building elements of the Parallel Marketplace for years. The owner of the Gab.com domain now boasts a:

• Social network,
• News service and trending news aggregator,
• Video platform, and now:
• Marketplace.

Soon he will have an on-line payment processing platform, to compete with PayPal, Venmo, and others who now take sides.

Future of the Parallel Marketplace

The Parallel Marketplace can and will coexist with providers who still refuse to take sides. Such providers know that neutrality best serves them. But the day may come in which no provider stays neutral. On that day, the Parallel Marketplace will be complete. Then neither political side will ever have anything to share with the other at the water cooler at the workplace.

Furthermore, perhaps neither side will even share a workplace with the other. And so you’ll see two distinct markets in the same geographical area.

You cannot have two distinct polities in the same geographical area, of course. So a Great Geographical Sortation is also taking place, as never before. Why else did U-Haul run out of trucks for one-way rental out of California? Don’t just take our word for it; hear it from U-Haul themselves. Or test how much it costs to move between, say, Los Angeles, California and New Braunfels, Texas.

• Moving into Texas: $3,463 to $5,468.
• Moving out of Texas: $1,247 to $1,642.

Clearly, U-Haul needs to take losses on moves into California just to get inventory to move people out!

What happens when the Great Sortation is complete? Then negotiations for formal secession will begin. And if those fail…!