[The Pack Knight]

Now if only libertarians would recognize that you have to draw some social boundaries if you want true God-given freedom. Banning things like bestiality, pedophilia, and homosexuality are no threat to real freedom. Those things violate the laws of nature and nature’s God.

As something of a libertarian myself, I agree to an extent, though I would say that much of public morality is best enforced through means other than the police power of the state. By my view, part of the very definition of a free society is that government is not sole institution responsible for the regulation all aspects of that society. The church and the family are best suited to the regulation of morality.

I also believe the reverse, that a society that lacks such institutions cannot endure as a free society, and will, in time, degenerate into chaos or tyranny. When traditional social institutions are weakened or eliminated, the state will inevitably move to fill the resulting vacuum.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Having some boundaries doesn’t mean government is completely enforcing morality. In fact it is impossible for gov’t to completely force morality because morality deals with the heart as well as actions. But gov’t can and should draw some boundaries. No one claims freedom is threatened by bestiality laws (yet). Few see nudity laws as a threat to real freedom. Few see age-of-consent laws as a threat to freedom. Few used to see sodomy laws as a threat to freedom. Without any boundaries we all become trapped by the whims of the most deviant among us.