Obama on Legalizing Hookers, Drugs, Gambling
By wchung | 22 Feb, 2025

Obama's answer to one young man's sensible question shows that, alas, we remain a bastion of hypocrisy.

A young man at a recent Obama town hall meeting in Pennsylvania suggested legalizing non-violent crimes like prostitution, drug sales and gambling as a way to stimulate economic activity and create jobs.

As the somewhat stodgy crowd progressed from snickers to titters to outright guffaws, Barack Obama faced an existential moment: how to respond to a perfectly rational suggestion that probably jibes with Obama’s own deepest convictions about the role of government in people’s lives without giving political opponents something with which to crucify him.

Obama took a few moments to take in the audience’s reaction to the young man’s question, then gave a response that spoke only half his mind: “I appreciate the boldness of your question,” said the President with just the trace of a smile. “That won’t be my jobs strategy.” No more was said on the subject.

I have enough faith in Obama’s intelligence to believe that he secretly agrees with at least the premise of the young man’s question. Laws that not only consume tens of billions of tax dollars each year but do little to stop ages-old activities are worse than useless. They’re hypocritical and corrupt a society’s legal system and social fabric. Cops and even judges accept billions in bribes to turn a blind eye to some drug dealers and hookers while cracking down hard on others. The high price charged for illegal drugs prompt addicts to commit burglaries and even violent crimes to obtain drug money. Organized criminal gangs exchange fire in disputes over drug and prostitution turf, often injuring innocent bystanders. Laws against prostitution keep hookers from being properly inspected for diseases, leading to STDs being transmitted not only to their johns but to unwitting spouses and friends.

Untold tens of billions of dollars in damage is done to our society each year by these stupid, archaic laws that only fuel the hypocrisy of demagogues while doing violence to our moral and social fabric, not to mention common sense.

On the flip side, if these laws were somehow wiped off the books Americans would reap dividends worth hundreds of billions if not a trillion or more each year. Not only would legal vice activities generate tens of billions in taxes, they would save upwards of a hundred billion in law enforcement costs that could be diverted to efforts that would reduce violence and disease and truly promote a healthier, safer society. Perhaps even more importantly for the long term, our youth would be spared the moral trauma of being forced to accept hypocrisy and venality at the highest levels of society.

The reality is that the craving for sexual variety and periodic escape from the daily grind through the stimulus of a betting or the reprieve of a good buzz have been with us since the earliest days of recorded history. It wont disappear just because some demagogues found it expedient to play the “morality” card to win the votes of the sanctimonious.

Even the best efforts of Barack Obama to move our society toward reality and rationality may not be enough to allow rationalization of vice during his likely two terms in office. But if enough rational voters recognize and reward politicians who take the small but nonetheless bold steps of moving our society away from wasteful hypocrisy, we may reach a day when the question of that bold young man may be answered this way: “We’re working on it, kid. Thanks for restoring my hope in your generation!”

12-06-2009 7.30