Essay: The Individual Is Sovereign

Not everyone will agree with this, but for the sake of argument let us stipulate that homosexuality and other variant forms of sex are distasteful and should generally be discouraged. Let us also stipulate that the kind of pornography that flourishes in most cities is also distasteful and to be discouraged. Now even if this were all true -- and a majority of Americans think it is -- does it mean that the forces of law and government should proclaim such sexual activities illegal and threaten all offenders with prison terms? More generally, does it mean that the permissiveness of the...

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