I've been through this argument before, moderman. With liberals and libertarians. Moral relativism amongst the lot is constantly pushing the envelope. Believe me. The age of consent will continue to decrease and what is illegal today will be legal tomorrow.
You obviously don't share my Christian perspective and I respect your right to your opinion. You obviously believe that pornography is not obsene and does not effect people in adverse ways and therefore should be legal and beyond the scrutiny of those who rule to achieve the common good. I disagree with you. Just 50 years ago, in a country far more conservative than it is now, pornography, as we know it today, was underground and hard to get. I don't remember any of it when I was younger...other than Playboy...and that was extremely soft porn compared to the trash that exists today....THAT 12 YEAR OLDS HAVE ACCESS TO. You want no controls on porn...I want more...we'll see who wins. God Bless.
When it comes to porn, the only reason the age of consent for starring in porn is 18 is because it is fairly easy to tell the difference between an 18 year old and a 15 year old. If the age of consent was dropped to 16, it would be really difficult to tell whether a girl perfoming in a video was 16 or 14.
The point is, porn age of consent laws are generally different from consent laws dealing with sex. It is perfectly legal in most states for a couple of 16 year olds to have sex, though it is illegal for them to film the act. The two types of age of consent are different issues.
You obviously believe that pornography is not obsene and does not effect people in adverse ways and therefore should be legal and beyond the scrutiny of those who rule to achieve the common good.
I believe that porn involving consenting adults is not obscene. However, I agree with you that porn can have adverse effects on people, but that's not really relevant, in my mind. It's not government's job to protect adults from their own bad decisions.
You want no controls on porn
Not at all. I have no problems with prosecuting child pornographers, people who sell or distribute porn to children or spammers who send pornographic e-mail to children or nonconsenting adults. The only legal porn, in my view, is porn involving consenting adults that is watched by consenting adults.
I want more..
My question to you is: As a conservative, how can you justify being in favor of the government intruding into the private behavior of consenting adults?