Every time some politician or celebrity gets into sex or drug trouble, why must there be a public conversation about whether *whatever* should be illegal?
The fact is that the laws against prostitution are on the books, and everyone knows it, especially a guy like Spitzer who prosecuted people under that law and even signed a tougher version as Governor.
If people believe the prohibitions are inappropriate, the way to address it is through legislative action, not self-help, civil disobedience, arrogant disregard, or after-the-fact hand-wringing.
What Spitzer did was stupid, as well as arrogant. His disgrace stems from that more than the fact that it's a prostitution scandal.
It's the same thing that happens in sex harassment cases. I don't know how many times I've listened to whining executives who just can't believe that that woman took his harmless jokes in such a negative way.
"Harmless jokes" don't sound so funny years later when repeated on the witness stand.
Nor does talking about prostitution as a victimless way for consenting adults to fulfill basic desires change the fact that malum prohibitum laws can still be enforced. If people want to take a chance by flouting them, the standard should be act-at-your-own-risk, not a hands-on-the-hip, foot stomping insistence that the law was wrong in the first place.
Yes, I understand about civil disobedience.
But I hardly think that prostitution laws are a place to take a principled stand. |
