(Opinion) Oh to be a Libertarian, always taking the easy position of unconstrained freedom without ever having to think about, much less deal with, the ugly consequences of such recklessness.
Drug use, and even prostitution, are victimless crimes, they say, and should therefore be legal. Their arguments are consistent and logical, and they paint a sanitized world of consenting adults freely engaging in harmless activities.
But it’s never as clean as they imagine, far from victimless, even further from harmless. And consenting adults? Not as often as they pretend.
Scratch the surface of their rhetoric and just below their paper-thin words you’ll find a dark world of addiction, brokenness and unspeakable abuse.
Care to face an example?
Read this news release issued last week by the U.S. Department of Justice about the recent conviction of Michael Graham Lowe, 25, of Prattville, Alabama. He was so addicted to drugs that he pimped out a young girl for money.
“According to evidence presented at trial, in or about May 2016, Lowe and co-defendant Joshua Rose conspired to sex traffic a minor victim at the Stay Lodge motel in Montgomery, Alabama.”
“Rose advertised the underage victim on Backpage, and with the assistance of Lowe, arranged meetings for the victim to engage in commercial sex acts, and stood outside of the motel room while the victim engaged in commercial sex acts.”
“Lowe also transported the minor victim to another location to engage in commercial sex acts.”
“Lowe and Rose used the money earned from the victim’s commercial sex acts to purchase illegal narcotics.”
THAT is the reality washed from the hands of Libertarians, and all who share their opinions on drugs and prostitution.
Victimless and harmless?
Hardly.
Senseless?
You bet.
And Libertarians shouldn’t further delude themselves by thinking that this example is an outlier.
Sure, we all know people who smoke a little pot and are able to keep it together, but it’s they who are actually the outliers, not the Michael Graham Lowes of the world.
Freedom is good, and it’s why Libertarianism is such an appealing way of thinking. But conservatives know that absolute freedom — the complete license to do as you wish — doesn’t really lead to freedom at all. It’s the path to anarchy, to chaos, and ultimately suffering.
In the real world, liberty must be balanced with order. We must look at these things with eyes wide open, dealing with the world as it is, not as we wish it were. Otherwise you get either tyranny or chaos.
Meth. Heroine. Opioids. There’s no keeping it together in that world.
There’s only the clear and predictable slide into addiction, crime and, eventually, death, and they usually end up wrecking not only their own lives, but others who get caught in the wake of their destruction.
Others like the girl who was sold for sex by Michael Graham Lowe so he could support his drug addiction — a “victimless” addiction according to most Libertarians.
Those who believe in legalization must set their theories and ideals aside and face reality: Drug use often becomes drug abuse, and the results are never limited to the individual user.
We all suffer for it.
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