Libertarians believe that for something to be a crime, there must be a victim. Therefore, we believe that consensual acts between legal adults cannot be crimes. They might be morally repugnant. They might be unhealthy and disgusting. They might be tasteless and silly. But they aren’t crimes.
Law enforcement would serve us better if they spent their time pursuing real criminals and stopped worrying about these ten crimes that aren’t:
- Prostitution – renting yourself out may be lots of things but it shouldn’t be a crime.
- Drug use – certain substances are OK if the gubmint says so and you’re too dumb to decide for yourself. However, you’re smart enough to elect your own politicians. Nuff said.
- Seat belt laws – if you are too dumb to wear a belt perhaps you should be removed from the gene pool. Either way, government has no right to tell you must wear a belt. Unless you believe government owns your body. Do you?
- Helmet laws – same as seat belt laws.
- Licenses to practice various professions – Are you too stupid to figure out who you want to cut your hair? Too stupid to pick your own doctor? The state thinks you are. Shouldn’t that be insulting?
- Minimum wage laws -get an education if you want to earn a decent living. How hard is it to figure out?
- Speeding & other traffic laws – a) they are poorly and irregularly enforced b) there is no crime committed until an accident occurs, at which point there are plenty of laws to take care of the offender. Convince me our traffic laws make my driving experience any safer.
- Laws against suicide – again, this is about who you believe owns your body, you or the government. Can you commit a crime against yourself? These laws are idiotic.
- Gambling laws – you make a wager every day when you get out of bed. This is another example of the arrogance of the state, especially when states create a legal monopoly on gambling by offering a state lottery. How disgusting.
- Pornography – human beings are born with a genetic drive to have sex. How can you be a victim of pornography? You can’t. Perhaps you can become addicted to it, but that makes you a victim of your own stupidity. Stop looking at pornography if you think it’s a problem.
I could list thousands of consensual or solo activities that Americans have foolishly allowed their government to make into crimes. But I’ll stop with these ten which are particularly irritating to me. Every time I read statistics about our per capita rates of incarceration I get infuriated. If you think these people are learning to lead productive lives in jail you are delusional.