Originally Posted By: benjammin

IMHO, if we can at least agree that we are entitled to the same pursuits of happiness as anyone else is, then we share at least one common philosophical aspect, which is that we are both free to pursue whatever it is that makes us happy so long as such pursuit doesn't impinge on the rights of others.


No, then we can't agree. Here is a list of things that make me happy, and don't affect anyone else. Of these things I have pursued, all of which have been, at one time or another, or currently are, illegal, somewhere on the earth.

1. When I'm home and not driving anywhere, I like to drink a beer now and then.
2. I like to shoot a gun in my back yard into my bermed, safe, range.
3. I've read The Catcher In the Rye (Saliger), Slaughterhouse 5 (Vonnegut), Lolita (Nabikov) and the Quran and the King James revision of the Bible.
4. I had consensual sex before I was married.
5. I have gambled.
6. I have carried a lock-back pocket knife on an airplane post 2001.
7. I have made copies of DVD's I own.
8. I have dug holes on my property without seeking a permit.
9. I have hunted on my property on a Sunday
10. I have transported raw milk for my own consumption into the state of New York.
11. I have seen pornographic images.
12. I have driven a vehicle with an expired inspection.
13. I raise and slaughter my own poultry on my own property.
14. I have lived with a woman without being married.
15. I have friends who are openly homosexual.
16. I have failed to pave the first 24 feet of my second driveway.

...the list goes on an on...the litany of "victimless crimes" that are created because one person's pursuit of happiness does not meet some other standard of ethics or expectations goes on and on and on. 'm not even going to digg deep into the clear and obvious influence of religion and business interests on government other than the posit that any law based on aligning behavior to the rulebooks of any one organization is suspect, because in the end, another organization will have a differing view and conflict will arise.