Let’s talk logically about the way a few things in our society are structured. Putting aside all of our individual feelings on the matter and completely approaching the subject of law and order is a difficult thing to do, but when it comes to thinking about the future of our democracy, I think it’s a sacrifice we can all make. Liberty, to the average man, is defined as the cornerstone of American society. A simple mention of the concept in modern mass media is often accompanied by noble images of a culturally diverse people living side by side in this wonderful republic of ours. And yet-there are some aspects of liberty most would rather not have to deal with. A woman in this country is (for the time being) within her full legal rights to abort her unborn child. Many of us find the thought of something like that disgusting and immoral, but that very act is inextricably caught up in the paradigm of liberty we hold so dear.
In the same vein, we must think of the liberty afforded to those citizens who choose to kill themselves voluntarily. America doesn’t lock up smokers (though the restrictions on where they can do it seem to compound weekly), the government doesn’t incarcerate people who drink until their livers fail, and it has never passed a single law against overeating-all activities that pose some health risk to those who engage in them. The social contract goes like this: the people say to the government, “stay out of our lives, it isn’t your place to protect us from ourselves,” and the government replies, “OK, as long as you’re not killing one another, you can kill yourselves just fine.” It seems like a pretty clear-cut system. But there is an inexplicable aspect of the system; certain substances that are illegal to have, even if the only damage one can cause with them is self-inflicted.
Most of the drugs that are illegal in this country are illegal for a reason; overdependence or abuse of these substances can cause severe addiction and ruin many lives. This is not the issue; it is an alienation of the very social contract we’ve established with our system; we can make the decision to kill ourselves just fine, the government doesn’t need to give us that kind of protection. It is a restriction of your liberty, and an overextension of the power of government to illegalize substances with which consenting adults can purchase and kill themselves. Practically, it doesn’t make any sense anyway. When did the prohibition doublethink sneak into our society? We realize that prohibiting alcohol was a bad idea at the turn of the century, and yet we attempt to do the same things with other substances.
It doesn’t end there; another aspect of the American legal institution that is simply inconsistent is the prohibition of prostitution. With few exceptions, most American prostitutes are forced into a black market industry that leads to exploitation and health concerns. In most places where prostitution is regulated, such as Nevada, the workers are protected, the government provides health checkups to the workers, and most clients are required to wear condoms. Regulated and legalized prostitution is safer for the workers, and is a matter of our liberty. Why is it illegal to sell something that is perfectly legal to give away? People are afforded the freedom to work in any other way to sustain a lifestyle, so why should this be an exception? It isn’t a matter of your individual morality; whether or not you believe drugs and prostitution should be legal, it is a matter of consistency in the American legal system. Until these concerns are addressed, freedom will still be a pipe dream for the American way of life.