Jim Stillman
Randy InmanThe Potty Police and Other Excesses
September 20th 2007 15:51
There are some activities of which I disapprove, perhaps even offend me. Should the government devote limited resources to put the offenders in jail because of my disapproval?
I usually am considered by others as a liberal and, when it comes to social policies and programs to protect and aid those of us who are in need, the young, the infirm and the elderly, I want the federal, state and local governments to take an active role. I am, however, a libertarian when government seeks to take an overly active role in regulating private conduct by adults.
In the recent, and on-going, situation involving Senator Larry Craig’s arrest and subsequent plea to charges of disorderly conduct and interference with [the police officer’s] expectation of privacy, there is a real question of whether Senator had broken the law at all. I discussed this in an earlier post.
There is a larger issue involved. Should the government devote the time and resources regulating private conduct between consenting adults? (In Senator Craig case, there had been no sexual or improper behavior in the public restroom and no clear showing that such activity was solicited or anticipated by the Senator. Perhaps if the police officer had not been so anxious to make an arrest solicitation might have been made but, as in so many of these cases, the intent is not to curb anti-social behavior but to harvest a large number of arrests.)
Suppose it is determined that overt sexual activity in public is a bad thing, how should it be prevented? The answer, generally applicable to any regulation of personal behavior, is to employ the least invasive and intrusive method possible. Conservatives, who believe in fiscal responsibility and restraint, should have no objection to this approach. If solicitation in public bathrooms is to be dissuaded, then most studies have established that posting “no loitering” signs coupled with periodic checks by officers works just as well as having an officer sit on a toilet for his shift in the hopes that a solicitation will be made.
Hillsborough County, Florida, has a fiscal crisis; many long established services enjoyed by the public are to be shut down, library hours are reduced; yet we still have money to enforce rules against lap dancing and laws mandating a space between performer and patron.
Speaking about strippers and their patrons, a few years ago the City of San Antonio passed a law requiring strippers to wear an ID while working so that police could tell who the employees at clubs were. The quick and easy answer was to locate the naked women, but that’s another story.
There are many, many acts that should be prohibited by the criminal law. By the same token, private behavior between adults in a place where offended people do not have to be exposed should not be made criminal. Back to the potty situation, a quiet solicitation to go elsewhere for sex should be no more illegal than smiling at a woman at a party, entering into a conversation and suggesting they further the budding relationship later.
It’s none of the government’s business. Not until, at least, all of the highways are free of potholes, the bridges are safe, children are provided the best education possible, the elderly are safe and protected and all crimes against citizens are curtailed.
I usually am considered by others as a liberal and, when it comes to social policies and programs to protect and aid those of us who are in need, the young, the infirm and the elderly, I want the federal, state and local governments to take an active role. I am, however, a libertarian when government seeks to take an overly active role in regulating private conduct by adults.
In the recent, and on-going, situation involving Senator Larry Craig’s arrest and subsequent plea to charges of disorderly conduct and interference with [the police officer’s] expectation of privacy, there is a real question of whether Senator had broken the law at all. I discussed this in an earlier post.
There is a larger issue involved. Should the government devote the time and resources regulating private conduct between consenting adults? (In Senator Craig case, there had been no sexual or improper behavior in the public restroom and no clear showing that such activity was solicited or anticipated by the Senator. Perhaps if the police officer had not been so anxious to make an arrest solicitation might have been made but, as in so many of these cases, the intent is not to curb anti-social behavior but to harvest a large number of arrests.)
Suppose it is determined that overt sexual activity in public is a bad thing, how should it be prevented? The answer, generally applicable to any regulation of personal behavior, is to employ the least invasive and intrusive method possible. Conservatives, who believe in fiscal responsibility and restraint, should have no objection to this approach. If solicitation in public bathrooms is to be dissuaded, then most studies have established that posting “no loitering” signs coupled with periodic checks by officers works just as well as having an officer sit on a toilet for his shift in the hopes that a solicitation will be made.
Hillsborough County, Florida, has a fiscal crisis; many long established services enjoyed by the public are to be shut down, library hours are reduced; yet we still have money to enforce rules against lap dancing and laws mandating a space between performer and patron.
Speaking about strippers and their patrons, a few years ago the City of San Antonio passed a law requiring strippers to wear an ID while working so that police could tell who the employees at clubs were. The quick and easy answer was to locate the naked women, but that’s another story.
There are many, many acts that should be prohibited by the criminal law. By the same token, private behavior between adults in a place where offended people do not have to be exposed should not be made criminal. Back to the potty situation, a quiet solicitation to go elsewhere for sex should be no more illegal than smiling at a woman at a party, entering into a conversation and suggesting they further the budding relationship later.
It’s none of the government’s business. Not until, at least, all of the highways are free of potholes, the bridges are safe, children are provided the best education possible, the elderly are safe and protected and all crimes against citizens are curtailed.
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