Modern day slavery in the USA, what can we do?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
[b]There is a lot of illegal prostitution in the Amsterdam Red Light District, whodey. Eastern European girls. Latin American girls. Smuggled into the country, often with false promises. The legalization of prostitution was an attempt to put a halt to women trafficking and abuse - and it has been a mild success,

Mild success? If that is what you want to call it.

It's like any other vice really. It's high risk taking and generally unsafe. You can try to sanitize it by legalizing it but in the end it is still the same old stinking pile of poo.

Originally posted by FMF
You don't sound the least bit libertarian. Nor do you seem very strong at all on freedom of the individual and personal responsibility.

Why is it when conservatives take the stand against vices like prostitution and drug abuse, which are obvious ills of society, they are not for personal responsibility, but when the left take stands against such things as free trade and capitalism the same could be said of them which is that they have a dim view of individual freedom and personal responsibility?

As I said, I would not criminilize these acts, although I would publically discourage them. However, the left will throw us in jail for not buying health insurance. If you ask me, I'm much more libertarian than those on the left.

Originally posted by whodey
Mild success? If that is what you want to call it.

It's like any other vice really. It's high risk taking and generally unsafe. You can try to sanitize it by legalizing it but in the end it is still the same old stinking pile of poo.

What is your take on the end of the Prohibition era? Has it diminished the harm done by alcohol to society?

Originally posted by whodey
As I said, I would not criminilize these acts, although I would publically discourage them.

So you agree that prostitution should be decriminalized and/or legalized?

Originally posted by whodey
Ever beat up...

I have never committed a significant act of violence in my life. The worst was trying to punch some kid who knew how to box and then proceeded to break my nose. Oh wait I tried to kick a gangster poser once who threatened me with what turned out to be a fake gun but my kick had no strength behind it 🙁

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
What is your take on the end of the Prohibition era? Has it diminished the harm done by alcohol to society?

The end of prohibition just left the US with a very much stronger mafia which had an extremely large bankroll because of the profits in prohibition era rum running, then at the end of prohibition able to get big time into the drug trade made possible by Anslinger who singlehandedly (almost) made soft drugs like marijuana illegal.

Now the US only WISHES the mafia was the only player in the drug trade. The new Mexican cartel gangs have literally killed hundreds of thousands of people over the drug cartel wars.

So the prohibition of alcohol and marijuana IMO is the worse political decision of the 20th century.

Think about alcohol related deaths in the US alone, yet you can freely buy it if you are over 18.

Think about the half million people a year who DIE from tobacco in the US alone, and the fact that you could count the deaths from marijuana on one hand, yet it is tobacco that is legal and marijuana illegal.

This smacks of governmental hypocrisy of the lowest kind. Keeping alcohol and tobacco legal because lobbyists grease the palms of politicians while the marijuana legalization efforts like NORML can't get off the ground because it doesn't have the billions to grease the palms of politicians.

If all drugs were legalized, how long could these deaths caused by cartels go on? If their coffers dried up, so would the gangs.

But reports of hundreds of thousands of deaths reaches deaf ears in the political cages of DC.

I am not taking this stance because I can't wait to smoke a legal joint, it is basic principle I am talking about here.

If a half million people die in the US from a freely available drug, tobacco, then the proven relative safety of marijuana should be freely available under exactly the same circumstances as tobacco. To say nothing of barbaric state laws like in Texas where you can get 40 years for possessing a single joint.