Quote:
Originally Posted by abdclub
To me, it's amazing how thinking individuals are left out of the equation!
abdclub
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The problem we run into is that not everyone in society is a thinking individual, and not everyone in society -- given freedom -- will use that freedom responsibly. Therefore, laws are made to substitute for common sense.
How do you feel about gun control? Shouldn't thinking and responsible individuals be trusted to arm themselves for their own defense?
Yet, we need a law prohibiting providing felons and those adjudicated to be mentally incompetent from buying guns. Why? Because some people have no common sense and without a law and a penalty will even knowingly give a felon or a crazy person a gun.
How do you feel about people texting while driving? It is pure common sense that you shouldn't text while hurtling in a 3500 lb vehicle at 60 mph barely 4 feet away from other vehicles to your left and right. Yet, many people do it. And in response to the fact that many people *do not think* some states now have laws specifically prohibiting texting and driving.
While, quite selfishly, I would prefer to simply round up everyone who can't think or be trusted to use common sense and send them somewhere else so the rest of us can be free; the reality is that society consists of a wide array of individuals; and our laws are often made to reflect that. Because of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment, we can't make laws that only apply to idiots. To restrict the idiots, the rest of us have to be constrained as well.
I am recalling a couple of situations. In one case in MA, an older provider pimped out her 17 year old step daughter and one of her step daughter's under-age friends. The two girls got rave reviews until the situation was dismantled by the local constables.
In another case in Providence, a woman who was being held as a sex slave also received rave reviews until the constabulary shut it down and discovered she wasn't the only one that the fellow was holding.
Now, to ME, it is common sense that you don't pimp out girls who are underage. You just don't. They are not old enough to give informed consent -- they literally ARE minors -- so it is wrong. And of all people, an older provider OUGHT to know better.
To ME, it is common sense that enslaving someone and forcing them into sex with strangers is wrong and evil.
Consider for a moment that providing usually works with extremely asymmetric disclosure. Providers wouldn't allow most clients to check their driver's licenses to assure they have reached the age of majority, and don't allow clients to know enough about them to assure they are acting of their own free will. A client essentially has to take a provider's word for these things; which even for providers with rave reviews could be a damnable lie. A lie that turns the client into an unwitting rapist.
As long as there are unscrupulous people out there who are either lacking in the most basics of conscience or common sense; laws pertaining to prostitution will tend to reflect that we have a population that contains a substantial number or people who cannot be trusted with sharp objects.
Decriminalization progress?
