Last weekend, National Council of Women’s Organizations President Martha Burk struck a… Last weekend, National Council of Women’s Organizations President Martha Burk struck a “daring” blow against inequality. She protested The Masters golf tournament because Augusta Country Club, the host, is a men-only club.

But why would a leader of a prominent women’s organization target a wealthy country club that is so exclusive that it won’t make its membership public? Because she’s legitimately concerned about equality between men and women? Maybe. The desire to get publicity? Absolutely.

Burk’s single-minded campaign against Augusta is a model for any aspiring activist. After she contacted sponsors that would be advertising during the Masters, Augusta decided to show just how wealthy it is. It paid to televise the tournament without advertisement or interruption, forgoing revenues from sponsors. Golf fans’ hearts were surely as broken as Augusta’s bank account. If only Tiger Woods would have done well, even more people would have tuned in to enjoy the first Masters without a commercial.

What has Burk done other than give sports fans the dream of a commercial-free sporting event? Nothing, at least yet. Though the chances of her succeeding by placing too great a financial burden on Augusta or by generating public pressure that could somehow change enough members’ hearts and minds are slim to none, I hope they’re enough for her to succeed.

Why? Rich, white women clearly deserve the equal opportunity to join Augusta Country Club. Equality demands that a few successful women be given the chance to serve Burk’s cause as token members of Augusta. I’m sure that Burk or any of her fellow liberal friends would leap at the opportunity to become one of society’s elite by joining Augusta. I’m convinced that they would love to set themselves apart from virtually every other woman in our society by accepting such a prestigious membership. I’d love to see Burk on the inside of the Masters as a member of Augusta, insisting that justice was done and equality was realized.

The fact is, it wouldn’t be. Using coercion to pressure Augusta into allowing female members is not social activism by people who really care about social justice. It’s totalitarianism masquerading itself with the legitimate rhetoric of real social activists, the type that brought and continue to bring about real and beneficial social change in our society.

What Burk does not understand is that there is a difference between the public and private in our society. That distinction is essential to preserving and protecting our freedoms and liberties. Stores, restaurants, buses, the government and most places of employment are things that fall in the public sphere of our society. Refusing to allow people to enter, use, or enjoy the benefits of anything within the public sphere based on any immutable characteristic, with a few exceptions such as age and citizenship requirements for voting, is discrimination of the morally repugnant type. It’s wrong, plain and simple.

The battle against that type of discrimination was won in the ’60s. Still, there are instances of discrimination against women and minorities in today’s public sphere. These things, not a country club that has a membership policy based on social status and gender, are what social activists should concern themselves with. I guess the publicity Martha is receiving was too much for her to pass up, even if it meant giving up other opportunities to achieve justice.

Our freedom allows us to associate with whom we wish in our private lives. While we can think whatever we want about Augusta’s policy of being a men-only club and those that belong to the club, it is wrong to use the public pressure that Burk has employed to coerce Augusta to change. Our society’s understanding of liberty, and the public/private distinction that follows from it, is predicated upon the belief that one’s private life cannot be interfered with unless it is to prevent harm to others. Augusta’s membership policy harms no one, especially Burk. By making the private lives of Hootie Johnson and every member of Augusta, as well as the public event of the Masters the focus of her crusade, Burk has shown all of America that she is the real threat to our shared social values, not Johnson or Augusta Country Club.

Jason Lawrence will likely never have the money or status to join Augusta, but if he were offered the opportunity to play there tomorrow, he would in a heartbeat. E-mail him at [email protected].