Politicians and Prostitutes: Same Line of Work?
Politicians take people's money with a promise to fulfill desires that supposedly can't be attained any other way. Prostitutes do the same, though by reputation, they are more reliable in delivering. It's not surprising for people in the same line of work to gravitate toward one another, as Eliot Spitzer and a woman named Kristen reportedly did in a Washington hotel room.
I understand why Spitzer's alleged hiring of a call girl was stupid, selfish, reckless, immoral and a betrayal of his family. What I don't understand is why it was illegal.
Read more in Reason Magazine.
(Via: Tim Worstall)
9 Comments:
US political leaders are bought and paid for by the highest bidder. There aren't 35,000 lobbyist in DC for nothing.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kJ4SSvVbhLw&feature=related
Warning George Carlin and his colorfull ways is dead on.
No no. They are different in the following way:
When you pay a prostitute, you screw them. When you pay a politician, they screw you.
Mr. Spitzer screwed the financial and banking sectors, and surprise, surprise, the banking sector assisted in bringing Mr. Spitzer to justice. Is it a coincidence that Mr. Spitzer's bank account has been monitored carefully and legally in full compliance with legislation to combat money laundering and terrorism funding?
Small wonder that it is not remorse or contrition but anger that one sees on the visage of a man who appointed himself judge, jury and executioner.
The potential charges against Mr. Spitzer relate to violations of the federal banking laws rather than his patronage of the Embassy Club.
With regard to whether providing sex for a fee should constitute a crime, such is the case unless or until, the law is changed. With the opposition of radical feminist groups, the law is unlikely to change. It is ironic that those who believe in a woman's right to choose abortion on the grounds that a woman has a right over her own body, do not support a woman's right to choose to engage in sex work.
I think prostitution is illegal because it is surrounded with many other illegal acts and fosters the activity of those illegal acts. Things like drug use, organized crime, and gang violence.
New legislation that would facilitate the buying up of distressed mortgages with the help of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was unveiled on Thursday by a key U.S. House of Representatives Democrat.
Seeking to combat sharply rising home foreclosure rates, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said in a statement that his bill would allow the FHA "to insure and guarantee refinanced mortgages that have been significantly written down by mortgage holders and lenders."
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1330406920080313
This is nice, bail out the banks and put the undoubted losses on the taxpayers. How much they paying you Barney?
One cannot help but recall one of the fundamental principles of economics: people respond to incentives. On this basis, how can one logically argue that prostitutes and politicians are any different from anyone else?
Don't we just have a problem with the choice made? Whether it is offering sex for a fee or being dishonest.
Anon 10:20,
I think prostitution is surrounded with many other illegal acts and fosters the activity of those illegal acts - things like drug use, organized crime, and gang violence - precisely because it is illegal.
There are always victims. The Greek civilization suffered in antiquity and the Netherlands people suffer today. Degraded people suffer. Family structures fail.
Our culture operates from a ancient moral paradigm that subjugates humanity to some perceived "God" entity so that "we" are not we; we are slaves to a master who makes decisions about our behavior. Sex holds a symbolic place in this construct. In ancient times there was a reason for this as the family unit was a good way to organize a society and religion was used to control behaviors that might threaten "the family."
In our modern world these vestigial, "nitwitic" ideas define the prostitution issue as well as others. Our "monkey" brains are programmed to respond to hunger, fear and the tactile sensation of friction to our genitals in a variety of ways, so that... yup, we get together and have more monkeys!
Science and reason now give us choices about how we live that we enjoy in all sorts of ways. Must we continue to live as the ancients? God is a nice concept for lots of people - it no longer belongs in the law. We're not slaves, just complex monkeys!
Post a Comment
<< Home