Rossputin.com Rational Thinking About Our World

Bob Ewegen, the reliably leftist and simple-minded columnist and editor of the Denver Post has written one of his sillier pieces, regarding prostitution laws. The link to his article, entitled "Law that trapped Spitzer was written in a racist fury" is:
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_8577587

And here is my response to Mr. Ewegen:

To the Editor:

Bob Ewegen misses the point about what brought down Eliot Spitzer. It’s not that he, a married man, had sex with a prostitute. It’s that he was the worst sort of hypocrite, venomously prosecuting prostitutes and moralizing at New York and the nation in pursuit of political power, then using those same services. It may also be that he was an idiot; if there’s anyone who knew how easy it is to get caught, it was Eliot Spitzer.

Mr. Ewegen misses a second point: The problem with laws against prostitution has nothing whatsoever to do with the mindset, racist or otherwise, of people who implemented them nearly a century ago. Instead the problem with laws against prostitution is that the act is a voluntary transaction between two people, each of whom are getting what they want. It is victimless in the sense that neither of the direct participants is hurt. (If you want to look at “collateral damage” such as Spitzer’s distraught wife, then there are lots of legal activities which you would also have to then criminalize to be consistent.)

Sorry, Mr. Ewegen, but the only racism to be found in the story is your claim that today’s prohibition against prostitution is somehow to be placed at the feet of whites (oppressing blacks) instead of where it belongs, at the feet of moralizers like Eliot Spitzer.