Douglas Koziol makes his pitch for allowing bakeries to refuse to make cakes for gay weddings. He works in a independent bookstore in Boston, and likely would never see his post as being an argument for, as he calls them, “straight-only bakeries,” but he does nonetheless.

He opens with his disdain for J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy, which he finds despicable. But more problematic is that the independent bookstore sells it. A lot.

I don’t intend to review Elegy here. More capable pieces have already been written about the book’s “pull yourself up by the bootstraps” message, its condemnation of a supposed culture of poverty, its dismissal of the working class’s material reality as a determining factor in their lives, and its callous claim that the welfare state only reinforces a cycle of dependency. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s because these are the same rightwing talking points that have been leveled at the working class and poor for decades. As if that weren’t enough, the book also boasts glowing blurbs from the likes of Rod Dreher, whose oeuvre consists of transphobic screeds for The American Conservative; literal tech vampire Peter Thiel; and the National Review, which, under the guidance of William F. Buckley, promoted segregation and derided the Civil Rights Movement, among countless other odious stances, and which now primarily serves as a trust fund for a gaggle of #NeverTrump Republicans who hold the President’s views but gussy them up with a bowtie. And yet the customers where I work—largely liberal, well-educated and well-meaning people—have bought the book in droves.

Evil people like the book, which proves how horrible it is. And he knows who’s to blame.

While I have some theories as to why—mostly, liberalism and conservatism’s shared tendency to privilege individual agency over systemic forces—I’m more concerned here with my response as a bookseller. Despite the immeasurable good work independent bookstores and their staff do—from promoting children’s literacy to hosting readings and book clubs to being a vital part of local economies, and more—I’d hazard that the primary goal is always going to be customer satisfaction.

In case you’re not jargon-woke, note that the problem is “privileged individual agency over systemic forces,” which is progressive-speak for free will over authoritarianism. Note also that he doesn’t make the mistake Josh Barro makes, confusing liberalism with progressivism. Koziol correctly identifies the shared tendency of liberals and conservatives to believe in freedom.

So what’s an indy bookstore to do when faced with the horrifying and exhausting prospect of having to sell Hillbilly Elegy?

So what can you do when a customer wants a book that you not only find objectionable but also believe actually dangerous in the lessons it portends amidst such a politically precarious time? If it helps, swap Elegy for any book that you find particularly insidious, whether it’s Atlas Shrugged, The Communist Manifesto, or The Bible. The question remains: without stooping to the level of crazed book-burning, does the bookseller’s role ever evolve past the capitalist exchange of money for paper and pulp? And are there meaningful ways to resist the continued sales of disastrous books?

Of course, Koziol’s solution adds an additional element to the mix, fraud. Sell one book and stick another in the bag? When the buyer gets home and settles in for some fun reading, he’ll find a book with approved ideas rather than the disastrous one he bought from you? Putting aside the money-grubbing aspect of business, capitalist-pig, if the purpose of an indy bookstore is to spread lessons in the right thoughts, then the commission of fraud, of bait and switch, is just the price you pay for a better systemic world. As always, the end justifies the means.

Such gestures are not unprecedented or even exclusive to left-leaning businesses. As Chick-Fil-A, Hobby Lobby, and various bakeries that sell straights-only wedding cakes have demonstrated, there are plenty of business that will risk hurting sales for the sake of reactionary politics. And if, despite initial protests and boycotts, the public has shown it is willing to ignore homophobic and anti-choice practices for chicken sandwiches and cheap arts-and-crafts, respectively, then it’s likely it might also be amenable to the people selling them books having honest-to-god political points of view. Because, ultimately, what separates bookstores from fast-food chains and other retailers is the products they sell—bookstores traffic in ideas.

See what he did there? And with the proviso that he give the book the customer paid for, because no matter how righteous your cause, you still don’t get to defraud people, Koziol is absolutely right. His bookstore can stock only the books that suit its politics. No one can make him sell Hillbilly Elegy. If he believes the book to be dangerous, to promote ideas that are destructive to society, he can choose not to sell it. If a customer comes in and asks for it, he can turn that customer away.

It doesn’t matter if Koziol is right or wrong, sane or batshit crazy. It doesn’t matter if he chalks up his right to sell or not sell to his privilege. A bookstore may well be a business, but that doesn’t create a duty to offer any book to anyone upon demand. It can be a “left-leaning” bookstore. It can be a feminist bookstore.* It can be religious bookstore or a secular bookstore.

That’s the beauty of it, that a person can run a business that comports with their beliefs, whatever they might be. We may think it’s foolish, or counterproductive, or just incredibly bad for business, but it’s not our call. It’s their business and they use the business to promote whatever viewpoint they want.

And lest you get too upset by this, bear in mind that if the viewpoint promoted is unpopular, or if there aren’t enough people who wish to purchase whatever you’re selling relative to that viewpoint, you go out of business. That’s they way it’s should be.

*Because, well, it’s an old joke.