Yes, prostitution, voluntary indentured servitude, euthanasia, and the free market for human organ donation are next up for approval.

All of these exist in American society. The debitor's lifestyle which the financial system has succeeded to plunge the vast majority of America into has secured generations into a category of servitude, but they are allowed to roam the country unindentured still. But such nations as the UAE are not plucking individuals out of their workplaces in the middle of the day by police for not paying 10s of 1000s, if not 100s of 1000s for personal debt.

But the experiment that was America has turned at least this corner in morality, where what was once illegal, immoral, and unAmerican have been lobbied into 'righteousness'. The deoconstructionist strategy has succeeded to wear down the reminents of moral standards which various people may or may not have upheld.

But it will not be the end of the world. No, things will seem to go on quite normally. And just as gang culture replaces family with urban and suburban communities, drugs, and prostitution have increasingly become commonplace. Just as state sanctioned gambling has done.

Bill Gates` net worth recently was equal to the lower 40% of the entire net worth of the American people combined- the disparity of wealth and influence will continue to be staggering and allowances and consensions will continually be made to satisfy decaying moral standards.

Yes, prostitution, voluntary indentured servitude, euthanasia, and the free market for human organ donation are next up for approval.

These things exist everywhere. Or, at least prostitution does, not to mention a wide range of other sins from arranged child marriages to polygamy.

They've existed from the beginning of recorded history and no doubt far longer than that. There's no reason to launch into Doomsday mode.

"Bill Gates` net worth recently was equal to the lower 40% of the entire net worth of the American people combined-"

40 billion / (40% * 310,000,000) would imply that the bottom 40% are worth--on average,--322 dollars.

[turns on Russian accent] This is all lies and false propoganda!

"Yes, prostitution, voluntary indentured servitude, euthanasia, and the free market for human organ donation are next up for approval."

>>As far as I'm aware tehres no pending legislation (nor for that matter any grass-roots groundswell calling for such) aimed at legalizing voluntary indentured servitude or free market sales of donor organs. Can you provide examples of this in support of your slippery slope argument? (Not that doing so would render the argument any less of a rhetorical fallacy...)

Could be far worse--take living under Islamic law, for example.

When I went to the dead sea scrolls exhibit, I learned that the tribe who wrote the dead sea scrolls did so at a commune where they had retreated from society because of society's moral decline.

This was 2 millinea ago.

People have sex- in every way their bodies allow.

People get drunk, stoned, whatever to relieve stress. Hell, even bears do it.

And yet people still honor their debts, help people with broken down cars, mostly only lie without malicious intent, etc.

Some small number of people can't handle sex, drugs, video games, exercize, hand washing, etc. etc. etc. We can't keep prohibitting these activities to the rest of society.

In the case of drugs, illegal drugs are resulting in the destruction of moral behavior for millions of people. If drugs were legal, the money would go into moral parts of society instead. Thugs would stop killing policemen and judges and corrupting them.

---

On your other subjects- I mostly agree except for the prostitution thing. So many girlfriends are really only 1% removed from hookers (i.e. they stay with the guy because he has money, takes them places, and gives them money-- but it's a "relationship" so it's okay-- so really prostitution is legal if you are rich, but not if you are middle class or poor). It would need restrictions around it but if it's legal to have sex (which it is) and it's legal to make money (which it is) then making money by having sex should be legal (which it is in many ways already).

maxo:

On your other subjects- I mostly agree except for the prostitution thing. So many girlfriends are really only 1% removed from hookers (i.e. they stay with the guy because he has money, takes them places, and gives them money-- but it's a "relationship" so it's okay-- so really prostitution is legal if you are rich, but not if you are middle class or poor). It would need restrictions around it but if it's legal to have sex (which it is) and it's legal to make money (which it is) then making money by having sex should be legal (which it is in many ways already).

Misogynist, much?

we already have indentured servitude, its call minimum wage.

"prostitution, voluntary indentured servitude, euthanasia, and the free market for human organ donation" Well legalized prostitution wouldn't be too bad, I bet if they had to keep records and whatnot there would be even less prostitution these days. It is popular in part because it is anonymous. Once you take that away, only they very desperate will visit! Isn't indentured servitude the practice of letting people enter the country in exchange to work? Isn't that kinda like a work visa? There was also the practice of indenturing your kids to a master to teach them a vocation, is that so different from public school? And even so, what is wrong with learning a vocation that way? If you want to be a plumber, why not be an assistant in the plumber's union? You get room and board and a small salary and they get assistants willing to learn. What is so awful about that? When my grandmother was dying slowly of Alzheimer's disease it would have been a blessing to have let her go painlessly and easily so I am all for that. What is the use of holding on so near the end? Granted this would need a-lot of legalese to work out, but I think it can be done. Certainly if I mention in my will that I DO NOT want to live past a certain medical state I should be granted that ability. The trick is defining this from suicide which is a tragedy because it is death due to curable mental illness, not incurable bodily illness. Organ donation does have a black market, but I don't think a free market will ever work. Doctor's vow to never injure a healthy person (i think) so I'm guessing taking a kidney from a healthy guy for money is gonna be pretty bad. Not to mention the genetic matching ect. I know some places pay for blood, and women can make good money for their eggs, but other solid organs are tricky. Hopefully we can get to a point where we can just grow the damn things up before a free market comes about. ~Crazy

JGC:

"Yes, prostitution, voluntary indentured servitude, euthanasia, and the free market for human organ donation are next up for approval."

>>As far as I'm aware tehres no pending legislation (nor for that matter any grass-roots groundswell calling for such) aimed at legalizing voluntary indentured servitude or free market sales of donor organs. Can you provide examples of this in support of your slippery slope argument? (Not that doing so would render the argument any less of a rhetorical fallacy...)

If you wish to use these things as arbiters of impending doom, you'll have to explain why the Netherlands is not on the verge of total collapse because prostitution is legal there (and drugs tolerated). You guys are always screaming that some new social development spells the "end of America" or whatever. Which is your role, since you are conservatives and a conservative spends his life defending the status quo. But the slippery slope here is not mine, but yours, the idea that every new liberty signals an end to our civilization.

And just as gang culture replaces family with urban and suburban communities, drugs and prostitution have increasingly become commonplace.

Are you saying that gangs are replacing families with urban and suburban communities? Hadn't heard that before. I'm sure once conservatives come back to power they can do something. I'm sure they will dry up the source of those urban and suburban communities.

Posts like this make me wish I still smoked pot, I would be laughing so hard I couldn't type.

Nice slippery-slope. Too bad that there are no major political movements promoting the things you're talking about. I hate it when people take one idea they don't like and extrapolating that into a symbol for anything and everything else they have a distaste for.

Bentoniani:

"Bill Gates` net worth recently was equal to the lower 40% of the entire net worth of the American people combined-"

40 billion / (40% * 310,000,000) would imply that the bottom 40% are worth--on average,--322 dollars.

[turns on Russian accent] This is all lies and false propoganda!

I meant to say:

Bill Gates's net worth was recently equal to the net worth of the lower 40% of the American people (per income level). In 1999, Gates was worth $101 billion. source: Fridson, Martin (2001), How to be a Billionaire: Proven Strategies from the Titans of Wealth, John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0471416177

This source says it was equal to the lower 45%, rather than 40%, in 1999. <link>

Today, Gates is worth $40 billion only.

<link>

According to the following sources, there are no more slaves in the world than in any time in human history:

<link>

Not only that, the value of a slave has decreased insomuch that an HIV free young women is valued at $1000 while a adult male laborer is valued at $40. In comparison to the value of the slave in 1850 when he valued at the equivalent of $40,000.

"Estimates by the US State Department suggest up to 17,500 slaves are brought into the US every year, with 50,000 of those working as prostitutes, farm workers or domestic servants.

According to the CIA, more than 1,000,000 people are enslaved in the US today. Thousands of cases go undetected each year and many are difficult to take to court as it can be difficult to prove force or legal coercion."

linked with Anti-Slavery International, there are 27 million people (though some put the number as high as 200 million) in virtual slavery today, spread all over the world (Kevin Bales, Disposable People). This is, also according to that group: Free the Slaves is an international non-governmental organization and lobby group, established to campaign against the modern practice of slavery around the world. ...

• The largest number of people that has ever been in slavery at any point in world history.
• The smallest percentage of the total human population that has ever been enslaved at once.
• Reducing the price of slaves to as low as US$40 in Mali for young adult male laborers, to a high of US$1000 or so in Thailand for HIV-free young females suitable for use in brothels (where they frequently contract HIV). This represents the price paid to the person, or parents.
• This represents the lowest price that there has ever been for a slave in raw labor terms — while the price of a comparable male slave in 1850 America would have been about US$1000 in the currency of the time (US$38,000 today), thus slaves, at least of that category, now cost one thirtyeighth of their price 150 years ago, although this does not refer to the price of an 1850 slave in Africa.

As a result, the economics of slavery is stark: the yield of profit per year for those buying and controlling a slave is over 800% on average, as opposed to the 5% per year that would have been the expected payback for buying a slave in colonial times. This combines with the high potential to lose a slave (have them stolen, escape, or freed by unfriendly authorities) to yield what are called disposable people — those who can be exploited intensely for a short time and then discarded, such as the prostitutes thrown out on city streets to die once they contract HIV, or those forced to work in mines. Species Human immunodeficiency virus 1 Human immunodeficiency virus 2 Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS, a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections). ...

<link>

At such deflated prices for a human 'slave', its only a matter of time before the black market for human organs grows and lobbying for lifting prohibition increases as Western baby boomers age. There's already an 'organ tourism' trade where Westerners travel to poorer nations in search of organs for transplantation often from slaves or the poor.

<link>

“Kidneys are the new blood diamonds,” said Nancy Scheper-Hughes, founder and director of Organs Watch, which documents and studies the trend at the University of California, Berkeley. “It’s big, big money."

<link>

As for prostitution being widespread, its already legalized in Australia, Japan, most of Europe, India, Russia, Israel, and many Latin American nations. America is not far from legalizing it as Europe has done in order to 'liberate' women from the control by gangs and criminal enterprises. Economic recessions often lead to increased prostitution, but this time, there are fewer moral standards to retain the prohibition against it.

<link>

As for euthanasia, its legal in several European nations (Belgium, Netherlands) and chief UK prosecutor said he will not prosecute it. Canada and other countries are considering it. And as the baby boomer generation ages, so too will grow the demand for assisted suicide as their health declines. And what moral standards will withstand this 'pro'gression?

<link>

Yes--people in other nations ahve legalized things the US hasn't (prostitution, for example). People in other nations and in teh US continue to break teh law (with resepct to slavery, teh sale of donor organs, etc.)

I don't see how this argues for an inevitable shift in US social values. If anything, the US is exhibiting greater ethical integrity than previously, by recognizing denying same sex couples equal standing before the law is ethically impermissable.

Im substantiating my predictions, though I find them reprehensible. And my original theory of decaying American morality has yet to be refuted. Citing the support for same sex coupling may be true to democratic principle but its reflective of the greater moral decline.