Laws that are written to keep our country as a recipient of God’s favor, promoting church attendance, and discouraging “sin” have no place in a secular society. Even if the majority of people agree that it’s wrong and that it should be a law, if it doesn’t protect people from being harmed by others then why should it be in the legal code? The United States and most democratic countries are not true democracies since true democracy is nothing more than mob rule where the rights of minorities are constantly trampled by the majority. We have a constitution that exists to limit the power of the government to protect the liberty of the people.

In Utah, alcohol sales are not allowed on Sundays or election day. I can understand election day, since nobody wants people voting under the influence. But to not allow alcohol on Sundays…why Sunday? Oh, it’s a day of religious significance for a majority of the population. Who cares. Good Mormons won’t be drinking anyway, so why make it harder for non-Mormons are bad Mormons to drink on one day of the week than it is on all others? While Idaho didn’t have quite the same law (at least recently) the state run liquor stores were closed on Sunday, but they changed that, they now open at noon on Sunday (I think, not too sure since I think I’ve been to the liquor store down the road a whole three or four times since moving here over a year ago).

Let’s move to strip clubs. In Oregon it’s full nudity and a full bar (if it’s 21 and over). Washington is full nudity but you have to be at least three feet away (I think), but everything’s supposed to be covered otherwise and no alcohol can be served on the premises. Idaho allows bikini bars with alcohol and topless clubs with no alcohol, unless you’re in Ada County (Boise), then there can be no bare nipples whatsoever. As long as the women working there are doing so of their own free will, it’s not near schools, and there are no windows, then what’s the harm? If you don’t like it then don’t go there. If it’s your husband you’re trying to keep away from strip clubs then you need to talk to him about it, not your legislator.

For two adults to have consensual sex it isn’t a problem, but if one of those adults gives the other money for it, then it’s prostitution and it’s illegal in most jurisdictions. Why? If you don’t like prostitution, then don’t be one or employ the services of one.

What legitimate reason is there to have prohibition on recreational drugs like marijuana or cocaine? If you don’t want to do them, then don’t. If you’re argument is the amount of crime they cause, then think about what would happen if the production, distribution, sale, and use of these drugs was legal. You know what? The drug crime would be gone. Did America not learn its lesson from the prohibition of alcohol?

People are going to do what they’re going to do whether its legal or not. Sure, it discourages some people, but it’s pretty obvious that it doesn’t discourage all that many. If you legalize and regulate the distribution of marijuana, then you can control how and where it’s sold, to whom, and tax it. If the deal goes bad now, the only recourse is violence. Legalize it and there would be a legal framework to bring grievances.

Prostitution does bring with it a higher risk for STIs, but as far as the numbers game goes, the more partners you have the higher the chance is that one of them will have an STI, thus it’s more likely that you will be exposed to one. However, professionals tend to be good about mitigating risks and they’re probably a lot more careful than that floozy down at the bar. Besides, in places where it is legal, they are registered with the authorities, have legal recourse if they’re mistreated by a customer, and have frequent mandatory STI screening.

These laws have no rational, secular purpose. What I would be okay with is zoning rules that restrict certain businesses, such as liquor stores, cigar shops, bars, strip clubs, brothels, marijuana shops, and anything else that you would logically want to keep children away from to a limited area. This of course would only work as long as that limited area is large enough to house all the businesses that want to operate there, so a one block zone would not be sufficient for most cities. Downtown Boise has an area that is kind of like that with bars, and it’s awesome to have 20+ bars in easy walking distance from each other.

Really what it comes down to is if your neighbor wants to smoke a joint while walking to the liquor store on a Sunday morning and then go home and discretely do lines of coke off a prostitute’s belly, how does that harm you? You don’t know what he’s doing in his place, nor should you care, and how can you tell the woman walking in his door is a prostitute and not his girlfriend, social worker, sister, or housekeeper?

If you don’t like it, then don’t do it, but don’t keep others from doing what they want.