Primary 2012

[Rheo]

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[Argyle58]

Rick Santorum hates gays and want to put them all in "Camps".

 

Rick Santorum thinks rape is a good thing.

 

Rick Santorum is a racist and HATES Barack Obama

 

 

 

What disturbs me most about him, though, is that he has expressed the belief that the Federal government has the right to regulate what he calls "unacceptable sexual behavior". While he was targeting gays in particular, such a broad statement could be far reaching when it comes to even the experimenting that married couples do privately, behind their own locked doors.

 

 

Incest Polygamy? From this it gets really....interesting. I mean there are some really sick people out there. It goes without saying any law can and has been abused, but does that mean government should not have a say in this?

 

This leads to just what is the role of government, and what are the limits. One of the reasons I am not a Libertarian, they go too far.

 

I would also ask when criticizing something became hate speech?

 

Valin, I truly believe that what goes on between consenting adults inside their own bedrooms should be beyond the scope of government scrutiny. Polygamy is not sexual behavior, but an aspect of, believe it or not, contract law. But it is not sexual behavior.Further, incest, in and of itself, is not an issue of sexual behavior, but one of, in terms of procreation, an ill adivised choice of sexual partners, but as long as it is not coerced and involves the wishes of consenting adults, is it not the business of the government. To answer your question, government has already taken a role in these two topics, although their Constitutional authority to do so is in question.

 

My reservations come from the generic term "unaccaptable" sexual behavior. Who gets to decide what is "unaccaptable"? What couple does not engage in activities in the "privacy" of their own bedroom that would not be considered offensive by somebody? The mere act of coitus is considered "original sin" by many and if engaged in for reasons other than procreation a sin in and of itself.

 

As to your question

when criticizing something became hate speech?

 

.....it becomes hate speech when punitive measures are advocated by those who oppose those things that they criticize.

 

I repeat that I probably would agree with what Santorum is describing as "unacceptable". My discomfort arrises from the concept that government should have the power to regulate these matters, and to have punative powers to enforce some sort of national standard as to what we are, and are not, allowed to engage in within the privacy of our own homes in regard to sexual activities.