357 lines
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357 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
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The Lawless Society
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Welcome To The Lawless Society. Issue #14.
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The following article is taken from the pages of Playboy, September 1993
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issue. It deals with what are known as "Consensual Crimes" in America today.
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-=*=- Ain't Nobody's Business -=*=-
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-The Absurdity Of Consensual Crimes In A Free Society-
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By
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Peter McWilliams
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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It is the best of times for the worst of crimes. And consensual crimes
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are the worst of crimes, not for the usual reasons, but because they have no
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business being crimes. Simply put, you should be able to do whatever you want
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with your own person and property, so long as you don't physically harm the
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person or property of another. Today's laws make many of those basic
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consensual acts illegal. Here are a few examples:
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* In Michigan alone, more than 135 people are currently serving life
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sentences without possibility of parole for the mere possession of illegal
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drugs.
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* In nine states, unmarried sex between consenting heterosexual adults is
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illegal.
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* Oral sex (giving and receiving) is illegal in 20 states for heterosexuals
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and 27 states for homosexuals.
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* The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that, contrary to centuries of tradition,
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members of the Native American Church may not legally use peyote in their
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religious ceremonies.
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* In 1992 a woman was stopped when entering the country with RU 486 abortion
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pills that she intended to use to terminate her pregnancy, and the pills were
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confiscated.
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The laws prevailing in these cases and many others like them would appear
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to run counter to the freedoms intended and guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
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Thomas Jefferson explained in 1801: "A wise and frugal government, which
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shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them free to
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regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement." How far have we
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strayed from this ideal?
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Far.
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Roughly half the arrests and court cases in the U.S. each year involve
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consensual crimes. More than 350,000 people are in jail right now because of
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something they did --something that did not physically harm another's person
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or property. In addition, more than 1.5 million people are on parole or
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probation for consensual crimes. And more than 4 million people are arrested
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each year for doing something that hurts no one except, potentially,
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themselves.
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The injustice does not end there, of course. Throwing people in jail is
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the extreme. Imagine how easily they could be fired, evicted, expelled,
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denied credit, have their property confiscated, their civil rights stripped
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away and their lives destroyed.
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Yes, if we harm ourselves it may harm others emotionally. That's
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unfortunate, but not grounds for putting us in jail. If that were the case,
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every time person A stopped dating person B in order to date person C, person
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A would run the risk of going to jail for hurting person B. If person C were
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hurt by person A's being put in jail, person B could be put in jail for
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causing person C to be hurt. This would of course hurt person B's mother, who
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would see to it that person C goes to jail. Eventually we'd all end up in
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jail. As silly as this sounds, it is precisely the logic used by some to
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protect the idea of consensual crimes.
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No one should be able to put us in jail, no matter what we do to ourselves
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or our property --even physically harming them. Consensual crimes are not
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without risk, but nothing in life is without risk. The sad or happy fact
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--depending on how you feel about life-- is that we're all going to die. We
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don't like to face that reality; it's one of our fundamental cultural taboos.
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We like to think that if we can only keep ourselves and our loved ones safe,
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none of us will ever die. Obviously, it doesn't work that way. Life is a
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sexually transmitted terminal disease.
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Sometimes we land on the sunny side of risk and get the reward. Sometimes
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we land on the dark side and get the consequences. Either way, as responsible
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adults we accept the results (sometimes kicking and screaming, but we accept
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them nonetheless). The self-appointed moralists of our society have decided
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however, that some activities are just too risky, and that the people who
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consent to take part in them should be put in jail --for their own good and
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for the good of all. Such paternalism creates consensual crimes.
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Consensual crimes are sometimes referred to as victimless crimes. But the
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label "victimless crime" has been so misused in the past few years that it has
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become meaningless. Every scoundrel committing a real crime has declared it a
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victimless crime, attempting to argue that a crime without physical violence
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is a crime without a victim. Anyone who had been threatened, blackmailed, or
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robbed at the point of a fountain pen instead of a gun knows that's not true.
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Another group claiming protection under the victimless crime umbrella includes
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those, such as drunk drivers, who recklessly endanger innocent (nonconsenting)
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others. Because they didn't hit someone, they argue, it was OK that they were
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going 70 mph the wrong way on a one-way street. Meanwhile, every
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intolerance-monger attacking a consensual crime maintains that the crime did
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have a victim. ("We're all victims" is a favorite phrase.) Besides, it's
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hard to find any activity in life that does not, potentially, have a victim.
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People who live in Florida may become victims of hurricanes, drivers of
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cars may become victims of traffic accidents. Each time we fall in love we
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may become the victim of another's indifference. Does this mean that we
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should outlaw Florida, automobiles and falling in love? Of course not. It's
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not our role as victims that puts such activities outside the realm of
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criminal-law enforcement, but the fact that we, as adults, knowing the risks,
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consent to take part in those activities.
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Consent is one of the most precious rights we have. It is central to
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self-determination. It allows us to enter into agreements and contracts. It
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gives us the ability to choose. "Without the possibility of choice and the
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exercise of choice," the poet Archibald MacLeish wrote, "a man is not a man
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but a member, an instrument, a thing." Being an adult, in fact, can be
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defined as having reached the age of consent. It is upon reaching the age of
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consent that we become responsible for our choices, actions and behaviors.
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(Nothing in this article, by the way, refers to children. It discusses only
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activities between or performed by consenting adults.)
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The laws against consensual crimes take away the right we all have to be
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different. Even if you don't want to take part in any of the illegal
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consensual acts, a culture that puts people in jail for them is also a culture
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that will disapprove --forcefully, clearly and oppressively-- of something
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different you MAY want to do.
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If we let anyone lose his or her freedom without just cause, we all have
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lost out freedom. The bell, as the poet said, tolls for thee.
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With this thought in mind, here are the most popular consensual crimes:
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gambling, recreational drug use, prostitution, pornography, obscenity,
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homosexuality, adultery, bigamy, polygamy, regenerative drug use and other
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unorthodox medical practices ("Quacks!"), unconventional religious practices
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("Cults!"), unpopular political views ("Commies!"), transvestism, not using
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safety devices (motorcycle helmets and seat belts, for example), public
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drunkenness, jaywalking, loitering, vagrancy (so long as it doesn't become
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trespassing or disturbing the peace) and ticket scalping.
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Even if you don't want to take part in a consensual crime, defending the
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right of others to do so has a trickle-down effect of tolerance, acceptance
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and freedom for the things you DO want to do. (This may be one trickle-down
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theory that works.) "My definition of a free society," said Adlai E.
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Stevenson, "is a society where it is safe to be unpopular."
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-=*=-
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Here are the primary reasons consensual activities should not be illegal.
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In my view, any one reason is sufficient to remove all laws against consensual
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crimes from the books.
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* It's un-American. America is based on personal freedom and the strength of
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diversity, not on unnecessary limitation and slavish conformity. We are,
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after all, "endowed by [our] creator with certain unalienable rights, that
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among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Thus, we are
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well-endowed. Let's use our endowment.
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* It's unconstitutional. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights clearly
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gives us the right to pursue our lives without the forced intervention of
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self-appointed moralists, do-gooders and busy-bodies. Those who claim that
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the Constitution is a "Christian document" are about as wrong as they could
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be. (Which, considering how wrong these people can be, is pretty wrong.) The
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founding fathers --George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson,
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John Adams-- were not even Christians; they were Deists. They believed there
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is a God, but did not believe the "revealed word" of any religion. The
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founding fathers read the words of Jesus with respect, but they also turned
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for inspiration to the works of Confucius, Zoroaster, Socrates and many
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others. That almost everyone believes the founding fathers were all
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"God-fearing Christians" is a perfect example of telling a big enough lie long
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enough that it becomes "truth." George Washington summed it up succinctly:
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"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the
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Christian religion."
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* It violates the separation of church and state. The Constitution not only
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guarantees that we can freely practice the religion of our choice but also
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that the government will not impose religion upon us. Almost all arguments in
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favor of maintaining laws against consensual crimes have a religious
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foundation. The biblical sexual prohibitions are oft quoted. The
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restrictions against drugs come from the evangelical revivalism of the 1820's
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and 1830's that directly gave us, among other delights, Prohibition. Even the
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idea that should take care of our bodies --OR ELSE-- is the old
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body-is-the-temple-of-the-soul argument espoused by Saint Paul.
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* It's against the American principles of private property, free enterprise,
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capitalism and the open market. If everything thus far has sounded hopelessly
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liberal, here's a nice conservative argument: Our economic system is based on
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private property. What you own is your own business. You can give it away,
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trade it or sell it --none of which is the government's business. Whether you
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make or lose money on the transaction is not the government's business (until
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it's time to collect taxes). This is the system known as capitalism. We
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fought (and recently won) a 45-year cold-and-hot war against communism to
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maintain it. For the government to say that certain things cannot be owned,
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bought, given away, traded or sold is a direct violation of both the sanctity
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of private property and of the fundamental principles of capitalism.
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* It's expensive. We're spending more than $50 billion per year catching and
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jailing consensual criminals. In addition, I estimate that we're losing at
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least an additional $150 billion in tax revenues: Every man, woman and child
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in this country is paying $800 per year to destroy the lives of 6 million
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fellow citizens involves in the tangled web of consensual acts, crime and
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punishment. And moving the underground economy that is associated with
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consensual crimes above ground would create 6 million tax-paying jobs.
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* It destroys lives. A single arrest and conviction, even without a jail
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sentence, can wipe one out financially and permanently effect one's ability to
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get a job, housing, credit, education and insurance. In addition, there is
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the emotional, mental and physical trauma of arrest, trial and conviction. If
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jail time is added to his societally mandated torture, an individual's life
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may be ruined.
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* It corrupts law enforcement. Our law enforcement system is based on a
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perpetrator and a victim. In consensual crimes, perpetrator and victim are
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the same. Asking the police to control a crime that does not have a clear-cut
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victim makes a travesty of law enforcement. Who are the police supposed to
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protect? Theoretically, they arrest the perpetrator to protect the victim.
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However, in a consensual crime, when the perpetrator goes to jail, the victim
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goes too. Law enforcement implemented against consensual crime is a sham that
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demoralizes police and promotes disrespect for the law. Because of the
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artificially inflated cost of consensual crimes, people resort to real crimes
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such as robbery and mugging. Thus we all become innocent victims.
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* It promotes organized crime. Organized crime grew directly out of an
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earlier unsuccessful attempt to legislate against a consensual act
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--prohibition. Any time that something is desired daily by millions of
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people, there will be an organization to meet that desire. If fulfilling that
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desire is a crime, that organization will be organized crime. Organized
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criminals seldom differentiate between crimes with victims and crimes without
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victims. Furthermore, the enormous amount of money at their disposal allows
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them to corrupt the best police, prosecutors, witnesses, judges, juries and
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politicians money can buy. Once consensual crimes are no longer crimes,
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organized crime will be out of business. (The other major financier of
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campaigns against consensual crime is the religious right. Its leaders find
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it easier to raise money with fear and hatred than with love. Organized crime
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and the religious right. Strange bedfellows?)
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* It corrupts the freedom of the press. Reporting on consensual crimes has
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turned a good portion of the media into gossips, busybodies and tattletales.
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With so much important investigation and reporting to be done concerning
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issues directly affecting the lives of individuals, the nation and the world,
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should we really be asking one of our most powerful allies --the free press--
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to report who's doing what, when, where how and how often to their own (or
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their partners') bodies?
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* It keeps people from being responsible for their own behavior. If we
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maintain that it is the government's job to keep illegal anything that might
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do us harm, it implies that anything not illegal is harmless. Clearly, this
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is not the case. Either people must be taught that what is legal is not
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necessarily harmless, or our prohibitions must extend at least to automobiles,
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cigarettes and alcohol. The current hypocrisy practiced in our society is
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unjust, misleading and deadly.
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* Finally, we have more important things to worry about. The short list of
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problems facing our country and out world that are more deserving of our
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precious resources includes: real crime (the chances are one in four that your
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or someone in your household will be "touched" by a violent crime this year),
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drunk drivers (22,000 deaths per year), insurance fraud (a $100 billion per
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year problem that adds from 10 to 30 percent to all insurance premiums),
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illiteracy (one in seven American adults is functionally illiterate and one in
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20 cannot fill out a job application), poverty (14.2% of the population --35.7
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million people-- lives below the poverty level and a good number of these are
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children), prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse (more people are
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addicted to these than to all the currently illegal drugs combined),
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pollution, AIDS and last but certainly not least, the national debt ($4
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trillion and growing faster than anything else other than religious
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intolerance).
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Consensual crimes create a society of fear, hatred, bigotry, oppression
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and conformity. They support a culture opposed to personal expression,
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diversity, freedom, choice and growth. The prosecution of consensual crimes
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encourages ostracizing, humiliating and scorning people. This creates a
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nation of sheep. "It has been my experience," wrote Abraham Lincoln, "that
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folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
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-=*=-
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If you look into the arguments in favor of laws against consensual crime,
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they are usually variations of "It's not moral." And where does the
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objector's sense of morality come from? His or her religion. Some claim
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community values as the basis of morality, but where does this set of
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community values come from? The sharing of a similar religion. To a large
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degree, we have created a legal system that is, to quote
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priest-turned-philosopher Alan Watts, "clergymen with billy clubs." As Watts
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wrote in Playboy more than 20 years ago:
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"As is well known, the enormous political power of fundamentalists is what
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makes legislators afraid to take laws against victimless 'sins' and crimes off
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the books, and what corrupts police by forcing them to be armed preachers
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enforcing ecclesiastical laws in a country where church and state are supposed
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to be separate."
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Don't think I'm against religion. I'm not. Individual morality based on
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religious or spiritual beliefs is wonderful. It can be an excellent guide for
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living one's own life. It is, however a horrible foundation for deciding who
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does and does not go to jail. All it really does is allow a stat-sanctified
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religion to pillory citizens for their choice of lifestyle.
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-=*=-
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"The function of government is to protect me from others," wrote the
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columnist Arthur Hoppe. "It's up to me, thank you, to protect me from me."
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Responsibility is the price of freedom. So is tolerance. We may not like
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what others do with their persons and properties, but so long as they are not
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harming our persons or property, we must permit them to do as they please. In
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this way we guarantee ourselves the freedom to do as WE please, even though
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others may not like it. The price of freedom is eternal --and internal--
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vigilance: In the time it took you to read this article, 342 people were
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arrested for consensual crimes in the U.S.
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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And there ya have it. That article was adapted from a book written by
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Peter McWilliams entitled "Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do". There's no
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publisher listed with the article, but I'm sure you can find the book in a
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bookstore if you really want to read it.
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A brief note before I close out this issue of The Lawless Society. Being
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as most of the original members of TLS are either no longer interested in the
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group or involved with other more time consuming projects, I'm look for new
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people to contribute to the TLS files. If you are interested in becoming a
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writer or simply submitting a one time article you can contact me on any of
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the systems listed below. Simply leave me mail with where you can be reached
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or attach any text you would like to submit to the mail. All submissions will
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be given honest consideration.
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////// // //////
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// // //
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// // //////
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// // //
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// ////// //////
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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The Lawless Society
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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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-Flammable Fuzzball
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