Rules, rules, rules…just when you think America has enough of them, another one makes the headlines. Sure, the people who make them are generally well-meaning in their efforts but that doesn’t mean that every proposed rule is justified.
I will never stop pressing the issue of our freedom in this country. It is quite evident that we are losing more and more of it all the time in many aspects of our lives. But of all said aspects of life on which rules are imposed, I think sex is absolutely the most outrageous. There is a very thin line between advising people on sexuality and attempting to control and regulate their natural instincts.
I feel that sex is a very personal issue that lawmakers have no business in dealing with. The government’s duty is to protect our soil, our freedom, and our rights; not to make laws based on how they think we should live our lives. If the opinion that people should not become sexually active until a certain age is widespread, there is nothing wrong with that. But that isn’t a legitimate reason to sign it into law! We see the same problem in nearly-taboo issues such as drugs, prostitution and gambling; just because we have bad opinions of them does not make it appropriate to outlaw them. Based on the Constitution, if a law does not concern the protection of our rights, our freedom, or our land, there is little justification in passing it.
Returning to the issue; our government is comprised primarily of proponents of abstinence education who, hypocritically, want to put an age limit on legal eligibility to consent to have sex. Who are they to tell us when we can start having sex? And who are they to impose legal consequences on those who don’t follow it? This isn’t a threat to society like assault or robbery; this is human nature we are dealing with. No matter where you draw the line on government intervention in our lives, this issue crosses it.
An “age of sexual consent” is a perfect example of our government’s attempts to delve into our private lives, when it was never meant to do such a thing. In a previous article I discussed the Founding Fathers and their intentions to create a limited government that allowed for individual freedom; if they didn’t think the government should tell citizens an age at which they would become legally eligible to have sex (and according to any and all political documents from their time, they didn’t), then why should we? I again stress the point that freedom is perhaps the most important principle of our nation, and in personally-intrusive cases like this, it absolutely must be protected.