Quote:
Originally Posted by bryantm3
"the government has no business regulating morality unless an individual's actions directly affect the physical wellbeing of another human being"
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Agree with the general principle. There might well be examples where I would make an exception, but nothing springs to mind right now.
I suppose quite a lot hinges on what you mean by "directly affect". For instance, the government upholds copyright law. It could be argued that that's kind of regulating morality - or at least fairness. In that instance, behaviour is being regulated, even though actions of the illegal downloader are not quite "directly" affecting the physical wellbeing of another human being. Maybe that's a bad example.
It also hinges on what counts as morality. Is the banning of certain drugs a moral issue? It might be a safety/welfare/exploitation issue, but isn't that ultimately about morality? Ditto the illegality or regulation of prostitution or pornography.