Ten crimes that aren’t
Saturday, 4 February 2006 | 1,103 readers so far
Libertarians believe that for something to be a crime, there must be a victim. Therefore, we believe that consensual acts between legal adults cannot be crimes. They might be morally repugnant. They might be unhealthy and disgusting. They might be tasteless and silly. But they aren’t crimes.
Law enforcement would serve us better if they spent their time pursuing real criminals and stopped worrying about these ten crimes that aren’t:
- Prostitution - renting yourself out may be lots of things but it shouldn’t be a crime.
- Drug use - certain substances are OK if the gubmint says so and you’re too dumb to decide for yourself. However, you’re smart enough to elect your own politicians. Nuff said.
- Seat belt laws - if you are too dumb to wear a belt perhaps you should be removed from the gene pool. Either way, government has no right to tell you must wear a belt. Unless you believe government owns your body. Do you?
- Helmet laws - same as seat belt laws.
- Licenses to practice various professions - Are you too stupid to figure out who you want to cut your hair? Too stupid to pick your own doctor? The state thinks you are. Shouldn’t that be insulting?
- Minimum wage laws -get an education if you want to earn a decent living. How hard is it to figure out?
- Speeding & other traffic laws - a) they are poorly and irregularly enforced b) there is no crime committed until an accident occurs, at which point there are plenty of laws to take care of the offender. Convince me our traffic laws make my driving experience any safer.
- Laws against suicide - again, this is about who you believe owns your body, you or the government. Can you commit a crime against yourself? These laws are idiotic.
- Gambling laws - you make a wager every day when you get out of bed. This is another example of the arrogance of the state, especially when states create a legal monopoly on gambling by offering a state lottery. How disgusting.
- Pornography - human beings are born with a genetic drive to have sex. How can you be a victim of pornography? You can’t. Perhaps you can become addicted to it, but that makes you a victim of your own stupidity. Stop looking at pornography if you think it’s a problem.
I could list thousands of consensual or solo activities that Americans have foolishly allowed their government to make into crimes. But I’ll stop with these ten which are particularly irritating to me. Every time I read statistics about our per capita rates of incarceration I get infuriated. If you think these people are learning to lead productive lives in jail you are delusional.
1 February 4th, 2006 at 10:10 am
EXDemocrat says:
Maybe one day we will get lucky and have our own political party. I totally agree with you in regards to these laws. They are not a danger to others, although just like everything in the world, somebody will find some reason they are.
Thank you.
2 February 4th, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Barb says:
Trevor, I have to disagree with you on #5. You have seen the shows depiciting what so called plastic surgeons have done to people’s bodies and faces when they were not truly trained in plastic surgery. Would you want someone without a license cutting into you, or an anesthesiologist knocking you out that has not “proven” somewhere that they are capable of doing so without killing you (most of the time)?
I agree that various other licenses are basically meaningless and should not be mandated by government.
3 February 6th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
Dale says:
Yes, there are laws on the books that are over-the-top responses to the probability of harm. agreed.
To everyone , I ask the question, do you believe that some laws are about/for individual people, other laws are about/for societal norms, and other laws are about/for humanity?
As for the examples stated here, Traffic laws and irregular enforcement let me know that I have a high probability that people will comply and stop for stop signs and red lights. I beleive I am safer as a result of these laws.
I do beleive that some laws are written to prevent hazards to the public at large. Everyone should not have to go through their own learning experience to discover ‘good’ business from ‘bad’ business’.
Pornography laws and gambling reflect a society norm. When we are feeding some behaviors or traits, they can become ‘institutionalized’ with businesses devoted to the expansion of their societal acceptance of their business. Are we a nation that condones the acceptance of these irreligious behaviors? So far we are not. However, many people indulge in them even with the laws in place.
Sometimes I note that we have few laws that actually promote anything. We love to prohibit but not to promote. How about a law that allows you to vote twice if you demonstrate competence in understanding the Constitution? That is one example but I am sure people can come up with others.