Non-Aggression Principle and Vice: Where's The Crime?

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:04:01 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

Russell D. Longcore at The Libertarian Enterprise - why vice is not crime. Some things governments do routinely that are crimes.

Punishing crime is meant to guarantee to every person the fullest liberty he can realize that is also consistent with the full liberty of others. Government should exist only to protect the liberty of the individual, and protect his life and property from force and fraud. An individual must be free in the "pursuit of happiness," even to practice vices that others detest. An individual must be free to use his own judgment, his own body and his own property without restriction so far as the use does not interfere with another individual's quiet enjoyment of his own person and property.

Everyone wants to be protected against violations from other men. But no one wants to be "protected" from himself, since someone else is determining what "protection" is.

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