"Legalize"? "Decriminalize"?
Those words make me think of something that is wrong or shady being made sorta OK in the eyes of "the law". Like the thugs of State are saying: "it's really still wrong, but we'll allow you to do it to a limited degree, with the proper oversight".
I don't care what "the law says", or rather what those silly beings who enforce it think.
Unillegalize it! Whatever "it" may be.
(Of course, I realize the best thing is to just ignore the stupid "laws" and do what you want- as long as you harm no one else- but some people don't like the specter of "arrest" and a "criminal record" hanging over their heads.)
.
As I've written in "The Myth of Inalienable Rights" (regarding the so-called war on drugs) the correct term would be re-legalize it. The fedgov at the behest of religious groups made drugs illegal, a First Amendment "establishment" clause violation, putting certain religious groups religious beliefs into secular law. Prior to the 1914 Harrison Narcotics Act marijuana, cocaine, heroin, opium, and morphine were as legal to buy as apples and oranges. Also, there was no criminal justice problem associated with the use of those drugs at that time. The crime came after making them illegal.
ReplyDeleteDuring part of the last century, there was a War on Alcohol. Most of know how that turned out. It's true that many of the substances are harmful and those who use them wind up harming others, but people who make poor decisions will always be with us.
ReplyDeleteIn my lexicon the term "legalize" carries the inevitable cognate "taxable" and I NEVER want to feed the filthy beast! Until there is no State.....period, I would much prefer that they just stop compounding and adding to the destruction of peoples lives that making vices crimes inevitably entails by their meddling proscriptions and prohibitions.
ReplyDeleteLysander Spooner said it best when he said "Vices are not crimes. And while that is true, because vices may be sins in a religious sense, most of the vices that the "government" has made against the law did not violate the rights of others--the basic definition of a crime--until they became illegal. Good job government!
ReplyDeleteHere's an interesting wiki:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_without_ethical_content
They're making Wikipedia tow the line in collectivist correctness -- page has been deleted.
Sam
Reminds me of the statist terms: "working under the table" and "working off the books", lol.
ReplyDelete