Hookah's and Hookers

For most westernized societies, apart from the US, it comes as no grand revelation that prostitution has been legalized, supervised and taxed for years. Whether the country is a constitutional monarchy, a democratic federation or a secular electorate democracy, the fact that prostitution is neither vilified nor aggrandized but tolerated is not a topic for immediate debate. It is an exemplar of Voltaire's infamous summation of what the Enlightenment saw as intrinsic democracy. Paraphrased his statement reads; “I may not agree with what your are saying but I will fight to the death for your right to say it”.

This is the cornerstone of democracy and the implicit pledge to tolerate actions and ideas which are not physically harmful to others. Libertarian pundits in the western world adhere to this ideological tenet on this social issue but are coyly dismissive when the same rhetoric is used in fiscal governance. Nevertheless, if one explores Europe, especially Norther Europe, prostitution is not only a visceral manifestation of this social ideal; it's tangible; it's on the government's radar. Prostitution is not only legal, it's also highly regulated in most Europe countries (mandatory health screenings and copious documentation). Additionally, there are also several localized labor unions devoted to the woman of the night.

Throughout the short but dense American history prostitution has nestled itself in the American psyche encompassing all social milieux. Consider the brothels and street walkers of America's oldest metropolitan areas; places like New York City, Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco, to name but a few documented cities. But a gritter and subtler form of prostitution could be found on the advancing frontier of the American west. It is an almost ubiquitous scene in any film which subscribes to the Wild West format. This paradigm is not relegated to the big screen. Television shows like Gun Smoke employed a leading character, Miss Kitty, a brothel madam. To illustrate how ingrained and banal the archetypical brothel madam was; her character was the love interest of another lead character; Marshall Dylan: a governmental enforcer of the law. This tradition has continued to flourish in America, albeit under the radar and somewhat clandestine. The proud state of Nevada is one of the last American bastions of prostitution in the modern age. And they won't change a thing.

If this analogy seems anachronistic or esoteric, then consider the modern pornography industry. This business model thrives. It thrives because of the same mechanisms which are infused in Colorado weed legalization and Nevada prostitution legalization. The news outlet, CNBC, conducted a study of the profitability of legalization of marijuana and came to several staggering conclusions. They based their conclusions on data from research groups like NORML (National Organization for the Repeal of Marijuana Laws) and US Health and Human Services. Although the numbers differ greatly, an aggregate of all revenue delivers an estimate of taxes to be collected and overall savings in law enforcement equalling $20 billion. That's an estimate before the burgeoning cannabis cafe revolution in the US. What are the numbers then for prostitution?

According to an ABC PrimeTime report; $10 billion a year is generated through the various distribution channels of the porn industry. Even more astonishing is that large multi-national corporation realize the innate cash cow that is pornography; “Companies like General Motors, AOL Time Warner and Marriott earn revenue by piping adult movies into Americans' homes and hotel rooms, but you won't see anything about it in their company reports”. It appears that sex, as a commodity, is trading with relative impunity as a blue chip stock in the US. Why not prostitution?

Many people, it appears, don't take much umbrage to pornography, if it is tightly scrutinized and adequate foresight is maintained. Things like age requirements for performers and consumers as well as legal consent without duress for performers, are probably the chief concerns for those who have a laissez-faire or libertarian view towards the industry. But what is the fundamental difference? None really if one considers that the aforementioned criteria are met. Both prostitution and pornography as well as marijuana consumption are victimless if these criteria are adhered to under the law.

Let's do the numbers. Tracey Pierce Sonntag, in an article entitled “Case for Legalization ofProstitution” illustrates the financial feasibility of prostitution we can utilize the data collected on one Nevada brothel. Her findings reveal that an employee at the brothel earns $100,000 taxable income a year. This is if the employee is only working on week per month! What's more remarkable, on a financial-tax scale, is that there are an approximately 1 million, on a conservative estimate, prostitutes in the US which could yield a whopping $20 billion or more a year in taxes.

Much like the crusades being waged through America to decriminalize and ultimately legalize marijuana, so too should America embrace her prostitution past and decriminalize and ultimately legalize prostitution.

The Gods Must Be Stingy

Cargo Cults, Welfare and Political Drivel

     Libertarianism social policy fits snugly into the ideological framework of the American Constitution which the “Founding Fathers” seemingly intended. There is deep chasm of political philosophy between Libertarianism and the original intent of a “common good”, which runs like a thread through the Constitution. Libertarianism, I feel, will prove to be inadequate for effective statecraft on a federal, state, or local level. As an illustration of the inherent shortcomings, consider the implications of one of the basic tenets of it's political ideology; self-reliance. If you carry that to one of it's logical and pragmatic conclusions then there is scanty provision made for civil utilities like fire departments or police forces. Remember that until the end of the 19^th century and beginning of the 20^th century fire departments were privately owned and operated. This meant that if your home or business didn't bare the placard of one of the privately held fire departments then those companies would not respond to the fire. Fortunately, that civic mayhem has been rectified by cities incorporating the fire departments into their municipal jurisdiction. The evolution of political “common good” as it pertains to civil concepts has come to be accepted as a right of citizenship and residence and can't be easily reversed. When it comes to abject poverty and marginalization of economic, cultural and ethnic groups not only do the Libertarians receive a failing grade but so do the Republicans and the Democrats alike. I will attempt not to oversimplify but also refrain from getting mired down in the nuances of their respective ideologies. I will try to succinctly describe American's popular conception of the political parties stance on welfare as it refers to the “common good”.

     Republicans assume that the poor or needy, whether chronic or temporary, stick their hands out expecting a material or monetary freebie from the leaders without having to be concerned about self-reliance. This is their classic example of a welfare state kept on life support by the majority of hard working tax payers. The Democrats, in contrast, are portrayed as the weak bleeding heart handmaidens to this “nanny state”. The question arises, then, who has the moral and political high ground? Has striving for the “common good” devolved into a situation where an underclass has become so despondent that they have come to view the government as their earthly salvation? After the end of World War 2 curious quasi-religious movements sprang up on the islands of Melanesia which embodied that same despondency. Those movements yearning for an earthly salvation are what are known as Cargo Cults.

     The concept of the Cargo Cult has been erroneously linked to the culture of poverty in American society. Although many aspects are similar and one can understand the spurious conclusions drawn between them and the perception of a permanent American underclass. However, as will be shown, the idea of redemption by the government doesn't hold up to scrutiny. In order to do that we will have to tease out what constitutes a cargo cult by briefly describing the John Frum movement. After we have established our parameters of a cargo cult we will delve into a lingering sociological concept that continues to obscure an objective discourse on rampant poverty and its tenacious staying power in the United States. The outdated sociological concept of a culture of poverty is behind this ideological conundrum.

     Cargo Cults, like The John Frum movement of the island Vanuatu, emerged during World War 2. These small islands were used as weigh stations and springboards for thousands of American troops in the Pacific Theater. Anthropologists view Cargo Cults arising out of encounters with an outside culture which stand out in contrast to the indigenous culture as it relates to material wealth. There develops a mysterious reverence to the outsiders because the local population can't comprehend from where such a limitless supply of goods and resources originate. The local peoples assume it's the workings of magic which is perhaps summoned from the spirit world by veritable gods. While the war raged on in the Pacific these cargo cult built symbolic airstrips for the planes and erected statues of airplanes made from palm fronds and coconuts. They even built churches with coconut radio transmitters to contact these gods. Once the Americans had withdrawn from the Pacific Theater following the end of WW2 the Cargo Cults took an even greater mythical hold on the local population. They began venerating those symbols of the gods. They prayed for their return when they hoped the gods would bring with them the material wealth of the spiritual realm. As was told to Paul Raffaele of the Smithsonian Magazine on his visit in 2006 by a ranking member of the John Frum movement; “John promised he’ll bring planeloads and shiploads of cargo to us from America if we pray to him...(like) radios, TVs, trucks, boats, watches, iceboxes, medicine, Coca-Cola and many other wonderful things.” These pre-literate island cultures were in awe of the material wealth and benevolence of the gods who descended upon them. There were no precursors for grasping on an abstract level why the American soldiers were being supplied and from where these supplies came. It can easily be seen how these local populations could succumb to deifying those gods and in turn, on a deep cultural and religious level, expect the gods to care for them. They were inadvertently thrust into a cycle of subservience; a culture of poverty.

     The culture of poverty was a mid 20^th century (1959) sociology paradigm that was able to garner both wide spread acceptance within academia and coffee shop pundits. Originally it was conceived by social anthropologist Oscar Lewis in his book titled “Five Families: Mexican Case Studies in the Culture of Poverty.” Lewis' ethnographical study of this Mexican subculture delineated how exclusion from the overarching dominant culture tended to influence the subculture to modify and adapt. Due to the lack of resources, like second language acquisition, formal higher or skilled education and absence of community role models, subcultures manufacture aberrant value systems from the generally accepted social norms. As a side effect of this insular enculturation these value systems were in turn inherited by the children. This precipitated the generational adoption of these mores and norms and thusly, allowed them to be perpetuated. Furthermore, Lewis postulated that because these mechanisms of adaptation have been engrained so thoroughly in the members of these subcultures, notably children, they are inevitably held captive to those ideals and social conventions. This ultimately leads to a perceived continuum of an underclass; a culture of poverty. During President Lyndon B. Johnson's “new deal” the concept was used to describe the plight of the urban ghetto namely, the black communities. It has since lost most of it's preliminary luster because of the work of modern sociologists, like harvard professor William Julius Wilson, who turned the argument on its ear. He claims that many ethnic groups choose to isolate themselves from the homogenous American culture. The many China Towns found in American's urban settings is testament to this voluntary isolation. Asian immigrant populations tend to cluster together and in doing so establish networks of support for the newly arrived emigres. Of course, there are other ethnic groups who adhere to the same clustering after immigration; like Eastern Europeans or Caribbeans. Wilson asserts that the main reason for a perceived culture of poverty is the lack of social role models in the impoverished areas of America. A mixture of socio-economic classes are required to exist in close proximity to one another in order for them to interact on a meaningful level. Most notably the middle class has a pivotal role to play in this drama.

     The struggling underclass is not incapable of learning and adapting if given a fair and even chance to succeed. The fact that there is an exodus of the middle class from these areas proves the point that success is at least attainable. The real concern isn't a Cargo Cult mentality which is perpetuated from generation to generation. The focus shouldn't be on vilifying the underprivileged as gullible and lazy. The main thrust from all political parties should be eradicating the ghettoization of America. Mandating the “common good” is what being an America is all about.