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Common Sense: Why attack Kasich for telling young women not to attend parties with lots of alcohol?
Townhall ^ | 05/03/2016 | Walter Williams

Posted on 05/04/2016 9:41:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Republican presidential aspirant John Kasich stirred up angry words from women's organizations and the Democratic Party by his response to a question from a female college student at a town hall meeting in Watertown, New York, regarding sexual assault. Kasich said all the right things about prosecuting offenders, but what got the Ohio governor in trouble with leftists was the end of his response: "I'd also give you one bit of advice: Don't go to parties where there's a lot of alcohol, OK? Don't do that." Let's examine that advice. To do so, let's ask some general questions about common sense.

Does one have a right to put his wallet on the hood of his car, attend a movie show, return and find his wallet and its contents undisturbed? You say, "Williams, you've lost it! Why would one do such a crazy thing?" If that's your response, you miss the point made by Kasich's critics. People are duty-bound to respect private property rights. So why shouldn't one feel at ease leaving his wallet on the hood of his car and expect it to be there when he returns?

If the person's wallet were stolen, what would you advise? Would it be to counsel people to respect private property rights? Put into the context of feminists' responses to Kasich's suggestion, you might argue that it's outrageous to suggest that people "restrict their behavior." Plain, ordinary common sense would say yes, a person has the right to lay his wallet on the hood of his car and expect it to be there when he returns. But we don't live in a world full of angels; therefore, the best bet is for one to keep his wallet in his pocket.

Here's a does-the-same-principle-apply question. Does a voluptuous, scantily clad young woman have a right to attend a rowdy fraternity party, dance suggestively, get drunk and face no unwelcome sexual advances? My answer is yes. Her body is her private property, and she has every right to expect that her inebriated state not be exploited. Suppose you were the young woman's father. Would you advise the following? "Go ahead and wear scanty attire, dance suggestively and get drunk. If a guy makes unwelcome advances, we'll catch him and bring rape charges." I'm betting that most fathers' advice would be the opposite, namely: "Dress and behave like a respectable lady, and don't attend drunken parties and get drunk." It's similar to the advice about leaving a wallet on the hood of a car. People are not angels, and one's conduct ought to take that into consideration.

Suppose you have a well-behaved, law-abiding son whose friends are not so well-behaved and law-abiding. They do drugs, shoplift and play hooky. Your son does none of those things. As a responsible parent, your advice to your son would be that it is better to be alone than in the wrong company and that people judge you based upon the people with whom you associate. Your son might respond by saying, "I have rights. If I'm not doing something wrong, I shouldn't be judged based on what my friends do!" Your response should be, "You're right, but unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way."

Here's another common-sense issue particularly relevant to today's police/citizen relations. Suppose it's the middle of the night and a police officer is suspicious of a young male driver. The officer uses the excuse that the young man made an illegal lane change to pull him over. If the driver were your son, what would you advise him to do, exercise his free speech rights to berate the officer for making a stop on such a flimsy basis? Or would you advise him to quietly give the officer his license and registration and answer the officer's questions, which probably would allow him to drive away without a citation at all?

To teach young people, particularly young men, Benjamin Franklin's admonition that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is a challenging task. But it is the job of adults to get such common-sense messages across, even at the cost of leftist condemnation.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: alcohol; kasich; parties; rape; teens; walterwilliams
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To: VietVet

“If you’re not selling it, don’t advertise.”

Good advice. We gave our daughter similar advice when she was about to leave the house one day in a low-cut dress. We told her that she may be dressing that way to attract the attention of a particular boy (we knew that was her motive), but that she would likely attract the unwanted attention of every other boy she encountered. She replied, “I didn’t think about that. Yuck.” and ran upstairs to change clothes.


21 posted on 05/04/2016 11:06:24 AM PDT by riverdawg
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To: goldstategop

I’m also tired of left wing thin-skinned cry babies.


22 posted on 05/04/2016 11:10:59 AM PDT by GOPJ (Imagine the shrieking MSM outrage if Trump supporters had tried to flip a car... David French)
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To: VietVet
[...] I was one of the participants, offering lesions in crafts related to the group’s theme [...]

What kind of lesions? Chancres? Herpes?

Regards,

23 posted on 05/04/2016 11:36:51 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: SeekAndFind

I didn’t know anybody had! it’s good to TCK sick. It’s good to Kasich is correct on something


24 posted on 05/04/2016 11:39:51 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup (GOPe/MSM - "When we want your opinion, we will give it to you)
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To: SeekAndFind

Leftists need girls to get raped at frat parties so that they may advance their narrative and agenda. They need it so much that when it doesn’t happen they fabricate it. To a leftist where is the political advantage in giving women advice that might keep them safe?


25 posted on 05/04/2016 12:18:07 PM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: SeekAndFind

Hmmm, where is the obligatory “Clownhall.com” pic?


26 posted on 05/04/2016 12:24:17 PM PDT by VRWCmember
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