Why? People are hypocrites. They object to indiscriminate mating when it comes to women but not men. They are hasty to impose private morals. And equally problematic, they treat the law as a magic wand, as if poofs away any undesired practice. But the law, instead, alters behavior, often in ways not matching decree. This time-honored principle is apparently elusive, for the public fingerprints its buffoonery in legal code time and again. Sadly, this is more than ineffectual; too often, it is inhumane. Such is the case in the War on Prostitutes, which pushes an enterprise underground, nourishes human trafficking, ruins otherwise good citizens, wastes government personnel, foregoes tax revenue, demeans independent women, and endangers sex workers.
Moralists contend prostitution is wrong. Reasons vary. But even …show more content…
To see why it’s necessary, consider tobacco smoke. Personally, I don’t like it. I think it smells bad, it makes me cough, and it ought to go away. This tempts me to support an ordinance that would slap a small fine on anyone caught smoking in a public space. (Take that, fellow at the train station!) But reason tempers my desire for tiny revenge, as cigarettes would still be sold and still be smoked. Whereas now some smokers simply puff in my face, if an officer were to walk by, they might instead slip a lit cigarette into a purse or a coat pocket. Here we have gone from a small irritant to a fire hazard, and we all are worse