“What I'd like to see police do is deal with important issues and not these sorts of victimless crimes when society is riddled with problems.”

What I'd like to see is police go away and the sheriff assist individual sovereigns in their lawful duties. Enforcement of victimless crimes is a most heinous crime, in and of itself. That society which is riddled with problems is directly led in such problems by the police victimization of that society. I just read an ACLU report that over 60% of all SWAT (militaristic) actions (war on and against We The People) were perpetrated on non-lethal drug targets. The vast majority of police actions in the public are revenuing ventures. The standing army that is recognized under a policing banner is nothing more that thuggery in behalf of despotic malefactors. Again legally (not lawfully), by judicial legislation, no policing body has any responsibility OR liability to individuals of We The People. The moto of serve and protect does not say of whom. All policing agencies and forms are to serve and protect government property (that government is it toto aloof from We The People) This comment is sugar coated as much as possible.

Asset forfeiture is going on all over the place. A cop can stop someone if he even suspects that that a "crime " was committed ,the cop can impound ( steal) the car even if no one is arrested. This is, of course, compliments of the war on drugs. The police state is here.

This is a difficult issue. It’s true that there are bigger fish to fry. However, in general “victimless crimes” often have spillover effects as drug users seek funds out of my parked car, and prostitutes and pimps engage in territory protection, etc. Many of these sorts of what would be classified as “sins” have been made into crimes because they can’t be contained to only those engaged in the actions. It could be argued that government should regulate them. Just what we need, more government – we all know how well that tends to work out. But the biggest reason I support the classification of these actions into crimes is the “broken window” effect. When society sees general degeneration of its neighborhoods caused by the spillover effects of these crimes the “productive” class moves away and hastens the complete economic and moral collapse of the area. There was a time when chewing gum in class would mean a trip to the principal’s office. We stopped enforcing the “small stuff” and today in the LA school system you can’t even get in trouble for “willful disobedience” in the classroom. However, in other schools where discipline is enforced, the students do well. It’s the same at the neighborhood level. A society that takes care of small stuff has less big stuff to deal with.

Words from the original quote --- "deal," "important," "issues," "these sorts," "victimless," "crimes," "society," "riddled with," "problems." Philosophy 101 grade: "F" -- at some point, some definition is demanded, nay, required or such words have such broad meaning that anyone can use them for his/her own ends.

I like it SCSURFER, The broken widow effect. Discipline begins at home. And must be maintained at school. Hollywood and the police state thrive upon the lack of. Hollywood being the promoter.

Jim k, that is why they have this war on drugs.

Where did we get it into ours heads that government is supposed to protect us from ourselves -- and not just that, but it is now a crime for having the power to hurt someone, even though you didn't. You can be arrested for not wearing a seat belt, even though no one was hurt. You can be put in a mental hospital if ONE medical professional declared you to be a danger to yourself or others -- that can be simply because you have a gun stored in the house. The problems we are riddled with are in fact the State's numerous intrusions into our personal lives. The idea that we need government consent to do anything is despotism, clear and simple. Everything we do has an impact and consequences -- not just 'victimless crimes' -- and we need to be just as discerning. It is a slippery slope to assume that drug prohibition, for example, protects us from 'crime' that may be indirectly connected. As a result, the drug war has become corrupt, and even simple drug users have now been equated with terrorists. It has become a license to steal from the citizenry, all the while destroying the lives of the oppressed a hundred times more than the debilitating effect of the drugs themselves. It is just another revenue stream for the government.