The Seductive Lure of Internet Pornography

Libertarians oppose government censorship of pornography. There are some libertarians who have a positive view of porn, and support its presence in our society. I do not. I would like to see it eliminated.

Wanting it "eliminated" is not the same as wanting it banned by the government. I want pornography eliminated in a libertarian manner.

Some voters -- staunch opponents of pornography -- believe that if you don't want government to ban it, then you don't really want it eliminated; you secretly want pornography to be available.

That is certainly not true in my case. In addition to my passionate opposition to pornography, I oppose censorship in terms of political/economic theory: it would be like saying, "You don't want government to ban alcohol, therefore you don't really want alcoholism to be cured." Or perhaps, "You don't want shoplifting punished by the death penalty, therefore you don't really oppose shoplifting." One more, on the positive side: "You don't want government to run our farms and grocery stores, therefore you don't really want people to eat."

Government is the worst way to handle any problem.

Government is not a Christian way to handle any problem. Even pornography.

The first way to solve a problem is to become convinced that a problem exists.

I was moved to blog on this subject after hearing today's broadcast of Focus on the Family, to which I listen frequently. Here is a link to the show. I don't know how long that link will work, so I'll look for a more permanent archive.

Internet pornography is a real problem.

You should listen to the story told by Focus on the Family counselor Joann Condie, which begins at about 3:00 into the program. The evidence is overwhelming and undeniable that this story is being acted out on a growing scale across the nation.

Joann Condie - The Seductive Lure of Internet Pornography
James Dobson - Focus on the Family
Before children are taught and really understand the positive -- the sacred vows of marriage and the relationship God created between a man and a woman -- teenagers, and even children, are being exposed to the negative -- the dark world of pornography.

The effects of pornography on children are horrifying, traumatic, and life long. One writer speaks of "Soul Murder."

But this is not a police problem, a military problem, or a government problem. It is a spiritual problem, and giving government the power to try to solve this problem will only make the problem worse in the long run.

The pornography problem is related to the marriage problem. The American view of Marriage from 1600 to World War II was that sex takes place only within marriage, which is a life-long commitment between a man and a woman. At the same time the government was building the A-Bomb, the government was funding the pro-pornography "research" and propaganda of Alfred Kinsey, whose goal was to change the American view of Marriage, a goal accomplished with the help of Kinsey's Bulldog, Hugh Hefner. This is the origin of the "sexual revolution" of the 1960's.

The American view of Government, like marriage, is oath-bound. Too many people who get married, and too many people who become politicians, do not keep their oath. Oath-keeping is a major problem in America today.

Psalm 15
verse 1. Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord?
Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
verse 4. Those who keep their promises even when it hurts.

The call for government censorship is a call for one group of oath-breakers to help another group of oath-breakers. Politicians take an oath to "support the Constitution" and then promptly ignore that oath, leaving the Constitution behind. Not surprisingly, growing numbers of politicians, even (especially!) Republicans (the party of "family values") are leaving their wives behind, despite their solemn oaths.

Political oath-breakers are not good candidates for helping marital oath-breakers.

Additionally, asking the government to ban pornography is asking politicians to further violate their oaths of office. The spiritual and political parallels with alcohol prohibition could not be clearer. Alcoholism, a spiritual problem, was not a government problem because the Constitution gave no such power to the federal government. Prohibitionists rallied Americans to give that power to the government by amending the Constitution (the 18th Amendment), which gave government power it didn't have before, which gave the sale of alcohol to Al Capone and organized crime, revealing to America that the government cure is worse than the disease. The 21st Amendment repealed the 18th Amendment, removing from government the power to ban alcohol.

Washington D.C. has no Constitutional power to ban pornography, and asking politicians to do so is asking them to violate their oath to abide by the Constitution's limits on government, further destroying America's already-dwindling respect for oaths.

The answer to the pornography problem is not adding more powers to the government, but removing them all. We must end government education, government funding for planned parenthood, government AIDS research, government aid to the progeny of Kinsey and his "researchers," and government funding of pornography in the name of "art" -- all of which distort and corrupt spiritual values and promote the pornographic worldview -- and all unconstitutional programs which make a mockery of the politicians' oaths of office.

With government out of the way, Americans will have more money to give to organizations like Focus on the Family, which promote a healthy understanding of marriage and promise-keeping.

Pornography is the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface is a nation that has forgotten the "Faith of our Fathers" as set forth in the Declaration of Independence:

• that the existence of God is a "self-evident truth"
• that our rights are the product of intelligent design (not the government)
• that all Americans are obligated to conform their lives to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"
• that our actions must pass judgment with "the Supreme Judge of the world"
• that we should have "a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence."

As we approach the 4th of July, we must remember that the government prohibits public school teachers from teaching students that the Declaration of Independence really is true. Then the government mandates that teachers teach children that the pornographic worldview is the true one.

Libertarianism, like the Bill of Rights, is negative. It limits government, and does not seek to empower it. America became a great nation by fidelity and hard work by millions of people. This was permitted by limiting government. It was families, schools and churches that made Americans faithful and hard-working. Government will not make America moral. Government will not create a man who honors his wife as he should, "to have and to hold, to love and to cherish." Government can only destroy the institutions and associations that do create moral people, beginning with the family.

It is strong families that ultimately eliminate pornography, not strong governments. We need to strengthen families. We need to eliminate pornography. We need to elect libertarians to limit government.

A vote for a politician who promises to "clean up America" and also campaigns on a platform of expanding government programs is a vote for the cultural carcinogens that created the tumor of pornography in the first place.

Pure Intimacy®