[Jibaholic]

I never said that good morals are the exclusive domain of Christians, and neither did I say that Washington was a Christian. What I have been saying, and what I have been quoting the predominately deist Founding Fathers as saying, is that good morals are important to a healthy democratic society.

In economics terms, morals are an externality. Libertarians don't like to talk about externalities because they would rather focus on transactions in which all costs are paid by the buyer only. But in the real world that doesn't always happen.

[mugs99]

good morals are important to a healthy democratic society.

I agree completely with that statement. But when you allude that libertarians don't have good morals and introduce prayer quotes from founders it immediately arouses my suspicions.

The topic is censorship and we should be able to discuss that with reason. If you want to claim that you know how our founders felt about pornography and introduce prayer quotes as evidence you open a Pandoras Box that you obviously don't like. George Washington was a playboy, and that is historical fact. How do you know he wouldn't like the XXX channel?

In economics terms, morals are an externality. Libertarians don't like to talk about externalities because they would rather focus on transactions in which all costs are paid by the buyer only. But in the real world that doesn't always happen.

In the real world, legislation of morality always fails. That is a fact proven by our own history of trying to do just that.
There was no Mafia or organized crime in America before alcohol prohibition gave birth to it. There was no drug violence, drug lords or drug gangs in America before drug prohibition was enacted.
What would you call that in economic terms?
Laws enacted to fight the crime created by trying to legislate morality have infringed on our liberties and put us in a state of perpetual warfare.
How does that compute as an externality?

You can't put liberty in economic terms...unless you accept that the comfort of society is more important than the rights of the individual. When you do that you give up freedom and become property of the socialist state.
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