Neocon, in response to;
Well, if there were more reason to believe that once one opens Pandora's box one can put everything back in order and shut it again, I would be less antagonistic to calls to legalize any and all vice
Well if the box is closed, it's presumptuous to assume someone can divine that it must have the nature of Pandora's. Who is trying to put stuff back? Where?
That's the presumption I resent, that we must be able to figure out where everything goes.
Beyond my needles, I'm actually sympathetic to much of what you say. However I resent the federal level of involvement, to the point of meddling. With thousands of municipalities why aren't they left to deal with problems of say prostitution. There may be various solutions appropriate to various locations. Perhaps we could make progress from the diversity inherent in the concept of states rights.
What the heck is prostitution anyhow? The networks prostitute themselves for ratings all the time. They know much of what the produce is potentially harmful. Provocative programming is by it's very nature potentially dangerous, if we understand to be provoked is to be provoked to action or something. We are not provoked to sleep! The politicians prostitute themselves. We all have the tendency to fall short of our ideals in terms of character for short term “fun”.
The Sullivan case of the '60's was a situation that cried out for federal intervention. I grew up in Southern California during the '40's and '50's. I didn't have sympathy for the civil rights movement of my childhood for two reasons. First I wasn't aware of the situation. Secondarily where I lived, I was the minority (an Anglo), I lived in a Hispanic ghetto (barrio). I had many black and Hispanic (we said Mexican then) friends. I just didn't believe the stories I heard about whites lynching blacks. I couldn't believe legal segregation existed. I just didn't know.
If I accept Federal intervention in Alabama for such as the Sullivan case, that shouldn't create license to expand beyond the principle involved. There seems to be an assumption that States Rights must necessarily, or at least have a tendency, to turn out as pathological is those in Montgomery, and Alabama. Therefore preemptive measures are acceptable to keep anyone from opening a box, just in case it may create some chaos.
Ricardo |
