"As political and economic freedom diminishes, sexual freedom tends compensating to increase."Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Power corrupts.
Anyone who believes differently hasn't been paying attention.
Politics, religion, sports, government, entertainment, business, armed forces: it doesn't matter what arena you're talking about, they are all riddled with the kind of seedy, sleazy, decadent, dodgy, depraved, immoral, corrupt behavior that somehow gets a free pass when it involves the wealthy and powerful elite in America.
In this age of partisan politics and a deeply polarized populace, corruptionespecially when it involves sexual debauchery, depravity and predatory behaviorhas become the great equalizer.
Take Jeffrey Epstein, the hedge fund billionaire / convicted serial pedophile recently arrested on charges of molesting, raping and sex trafficking dozens of young girls.
It is believed that Epstein operated his own personal sex trafficking ring not only for his personal pleasure but also for the pleasure of his friends and business associates. According to The Washington Post, "several of the young women"say they were offered to the rich and famous as sex partners at Epstein's parties." At various times, Epstein ferried his friends about on his private plane, nicknamed the "Lolita Express."
This is part of America's seedy underbelly.
As I documented in the in-depth piece I wrote earlier this year, child sex traffickingthe buying and selling of women, young girls and boys for sex, some as young as 9 years old has become big business in America. It is the fastest growing business in organized crime and the second most-lucrative commodity traded illegally after drugs and guns.
Who buys a child for sex?
Otherwise ordinary men from all walks of life. "They could be your co-worker, doctor, pastor or spouse," writes journalist Tim Swarens, who spent more than a year investigating the sex trade in America.
Ordinary men, yes.
But then there are the extra-ordinary men, such as Jeffrey Epstein, who belong to a powerful, wealthy, elite segment of society that operates according to their own rules or, rather, who are allowed to sidestep the rules that are used like a bludgeon on the rest of us.
These men skate free of accountability by taking advantage of a criminal justice system that panders to the powerful, the wealthy and the elite.
Here's the thing: Epstein did not act alone.
I refer not only to Epstein's accomplices, who recruited and groomed the young girls he is accused of raping and molesting, many of them homeless or vulnerable, but his circle of influential friends and colleagues that at one time included Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, both one-time passengers on the Lolita Express.
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