MORALITY IN THE TIME OF CRISIS

What is the place of morality in trying times?

For the time being, the twin demons of Nationalization and Bailout have
overshadowed the more nitty-gritty issues of running America, but this
won't last. Sooner or later the attention will shift away from how awfully
big a number 850 billion is, and back to where that money comes from.

Where does it come from, one might ask? Education, health care, and
various other throwaway portions of societal infrastructure, which have
been living the barebones existence of a famine victim for almost a
decade. The question is twofold: Does nature abhor a monetary vacuum, and
if it does, where will the new cash come from?

George Flint seems to think that that money can come from legalized
prostitution, at least in Nevada. The director of the Nevada Brothels
Association would like the state to begin taxing the 25 legal brothels in
that state, which together earn more than $50 million a year. Contrary to
popular belief, prostitution is not legal across the state of Nevada, only
in certain counties. Legalized prostitution in that state would put a
sizeable dent in that state's $2 billion budget shortfall.

The legalization of certain vices is guaranteed to be a more common
headline in the next few years, especially as states realize that the
federal money they count on to educate and care for their citizens might
not go very far.

California has been in and out of headlines in the past several years for
Drug Enforcement Agency raids on marijuana farms, which can be legally
operated with the proper licensing under that state's laws. According to
statistics from both the DEA and the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws (NORML), approximately $35 billion of marijuana is grown
in America each year. Just imagine the tax revenue.

The legalization of any vice is accompanied by strict regulation and
control. Consider that prostitution and marijuana use are practices that,
like abortion, do not disappear when made illegal. Government regulation
would result in safer conditions and products. The stigma that accompanies
prostitution is due in large part to the horrible and degrading conditions
many sex workers operate in, which could be eliminated with proper
organization and health care. The stigmas that accompany marijuana have
been largely proven false, the result of the 30-year war on drugs, which
has been riddled with more admitted misinformation than the Nixon
presidency.

The only obstacle to these practices and many others being legalized is
the continued existence of moral law. But morality is far too arbitrary to
be an effective basis for the legal system. The simple existence of
competing moralities makes it in fact immoral to allow moral laws.
Instead, logic and scientific reasoning should be the basis for our
decisions.

Marijuana is an innocuous substance worth billions as a cash crop, and
prostitution has been and will be a reality long after America is only a
memory. It's time we started treating these practices as realities and
made intelligent decisions regarding their place in our society - and for
our tax dollars. More than a monetary salvation, this decision will
represent to the world that America is willing to treat its citizens like
adults.