Prostitution is one issue where my libertarian instincts kick in. I had a criminal justice teacher who once pointed out that what is the real difference between taking a woman on a date and spending $100 and hoping to get sex. Or paying a woman $100 for sex and skipping the rest.
I know the argument will be what about people who are forced or children who are forced. Well we don't outlaw all business because some use child labor, we just enforce the laws against those business that violate the law.
“It would seem using this logic that government would have a vested interest in stopping premarital sex.”
That’s one of the areas they messed up in, IMO. At least, law, as I learned it, had these aspects.
1) Keeping or promoting order in interaction or business transactions, uphold personal freedoms (private property, life, etc.)
2) Discouraging someone from committing a certain behavior or act (Crime and Punishment)
3) Assign responsibility for the consequences of a specific act.
The law in Delaware, where I live, used to render a couple responsible for the consequences of their sexual behavior. If I, for instance was turned up as the father of some girl’s child, she chould legally demand I pay child support. We’re not talking divorce here, we are talking if she and I were being stupid high school students fornicating with one another and she got pregnant as a result. There were also accountability laws that made a person totally liable to getting sued for not letting someone know that I could have given that person an STD.
“Prostitution is one issue where my libertarian instincts kick in.”
Happens to plenty of us. Even sometimes I feel tempted to think libertarian for a few minutes, to understand the issue a little better.