OpEdNews » Senator Craig and the law against Propositions

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Tag(s): Ideas; Law; Law-Legal-Torts; Republican; Senator Republicans GOP; USA
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September 1, 2007 at 09:13:21

Senator Craig and the law against Propositions

by Steve Consilvio Page 1 of 1 page(s)

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Imagine if you will, a world where all sexual activity is outlawed. Procreation takes place only in a test tube. Human interaction is severely limited. Bodily fluids are never exchanged.

Senator Craig, after admitting he was guilty, now claims he was the victim of entrapment. But what was he entrapped by? A man propositions a woman every day. A woman propositions a man every day. The media is full of salespeople propositioning buyers. When did a proposition become a crime?

Sex is not illegal between consenting adults. So what exactly is Senator Craig guilty of? Not only was no crime committed (if you properly define a crime as violence against someone,) but there would be no victim even if the nature of the event is true.

I feel like I must be in the Twilight Zone, not a society of rational or virtuous beings. Who are these aliens with strange ideas that surround me?

Many Liberals perhaps hold a secret joy that one from "the other side" is going down, but they miss the obvious. For all of the easy charges that Republicans are hypocrites and cold-hearted and partisan, they are actually holding one of their own to the standards they set. There is no "it's okay because he is one of us" excuses. Conservatives are afraid of sex, and even more afraid of gay sex. Their moral wrath is applied equally, not politically. I think that is a good thing, but perhaps a little too self-righteous. We are all sinners, but we sin differently.

While both the crime and the reaction are overblown, within the context of all the paranoia that has gripped this nation, maybe it will show some just how far Big Brother has progressed.

The law, as is common, embodies doublethingk. Imagine, we live in a country where you can be arrested for using a public bathroom. This isn't a political issue at all, it is much bigger than that. And it is not a civil rights, gay rights or human rights issue. Only morons would proposition others for sex in a public bathroom. The fact that the law exists, and that a lawmaker and law enforcers were involved in this event, shows that the morons have taken over the country.

The land of the free? USA stands for a United State of Absurdia.

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4 comments

Constance Lavender is an HIV-Positive pseudonymous freelance e-journalist from a little isle off the coast of Jersey; New Jersey, that is...In the Best spirit of Silence Dogood and Benj. Franklin, Ms. Lavender believes that a free country is premised on a free press.
Constance LavenderConstance Lavender is an HIV-Positive pseudonymous freelance e-journalist from a little isle off the coast of Jersey; New Jersey, that is...In the Best spirit of Silence Dogood and Benj. Franklin, Ms. Lavender believes that a free country is premised on a free press.

A good point...

Unfortunately, the Republicans seem to apply their principles selectively, although I agree that the self-righteousness is more showmanship and hypebole, albeit with real consequrnces, than discernment of moral terpitude.

by Constance Lavender (89 articles, 0 quicklinks, 84 diaries, 214 comments) on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 10:02:56 AM

I like to watch. I am not a wage slave.
B York I like to watch. I am not a wage slave.

propositions

Good points.

Have you heard of an "unwanted sexual advance"? We used to call them propositions. Now people are prosecuted on that charge.

Still, it is the Republicans who are claiming they should be elected because they are the party of morality and family values (whatever that is) and who use that as a wedge issue to divide the people of our country.

Only fair they should be "hoist on their own petard" as it were. A Pox on all the hippocrites.

by B York (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 99 comments) on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 1:57:47 PM

None
WolverinesNone

Craig's guilt..

Craig was guilty of lying to his family and his country.

THAT is why he was driven from office; the bathroom affair was just the trigger.

If he had come out ON THE DAY he was arrested, I venture that he would still be in office.

All you're doing is muddying the waters about why Craig had to go. I assume - you're doing it while knowing full well why Craig was run out.

by Wolverines (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 8 comments) on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 12:41:12 PM

Getting fear out of the closet

You are right that Craig is probably gay. But had he admitted he was, that probably would have made no difference. The chorus of rock-throwers would have been the same. They were afraid of him because of what he did.

He isn't "guilty" of lying to his family and country, nor was that the charge. He is another tragic person confused, intimidated and embarrassed by his own sexuality. This is a rather common thing that all adolescents experience, but for some people the problem endures. (It is neither homosexual nor heterosexual adolescence.)

He was run out of office because we live in a police state (absurdia) where our tax dollars pay people to sit in bathrooms soliciting people, because we have made propositions illegal.

To me, the issue isn't if Craig is gay or not, or Republican or not. He is human, and deserves our love and respect, kindness and help. We should not be treating people like animals and be trying to trap them in their sexuality.

A public bathroom is not a proper place for sex, of course, and if he engaged in sex there I could see arresting him for that. That is making a public nuisance of yourself.

You, of course, may be more interested in the opportunity to punish someone. I am more interested in seeing what we can discover about fear.

While Craig may have lied because he was embarrassed by his choices, (that fear was his reason for lying,) there was also fear at play in the crafting and implementation of the law. Craig's sex life, as tragic and confused as it may be, offers only a limited threat to the body politic, whereas the fear of Craig's sex life can wreak havoc with the body politic.

The more fear in our politics (and we have an unhealthy dose on both sides,) the more absurd our choices will become.

Some claim that obedience to law is liberty. But to obey and create absurd laws is absurd, not liberty. The reason that fascism and tyranny is possible is because nobody questions the absurdity. The self-righteous and the political opponents both see an opportunity to punish, but what they do to others they also do to themselves. We all reap what we sow. In sowing fear and revenge, entrapment and punishment, that is what we reap, too.

Craig's example shows how simple act can be defined as a crime. Just as others are "guilty" of being rich, Jewish, Black, Liberal, Conservative, etc. It is easy to create a label and a scapegoat, and then embody that hate (or fear) into public law.

by Steve Consilvio (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 96 comments) on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 7:36:11 PM