Do We Need Thought Police in America?

Columnist Maggie Gallagher, in a column last year, lamented the fact that the courts have put the kibosh on two laws that would have punished people for child pornography, even when their activities were limited to creating, using, or possessing material for which no actual children are used. As a libertarian, I'm glad the courts shot down those laws down. The way I see it, if there is no victim, there is no crime. Why is that so hard for people like Ms. Gallagher to understand?

I'm proud to live in a country that does not police thoughts, no matter how disgusting we all may feel those thoughts are. But Gallagher even admits that this is her goal when she writes, "the problem we want to resolve in passing laws banning child pornography is not adults' lust for profits, but their lust for children." In other words, they're focusing on the lust itself (thoughts), rather than actions. Excuse me, but how does one go about resolving people's negative thoughts? I'm not sure, but it's quite obvious that some people try to do it by passing crazy laws.

However, even if Ms. Gallagher could make a successful argument that these laws do not equate to the policing of thoughts, there is still a problem here. The laws in question are also attempting to shift the burden of proof from the accusers to the accused. Advocates of such legislation have concluded that it is so difficult to prove some cases of actual child porn that an accused pornographer should be forced to prove that his simulated or fantasy material isn't really derived from and/or is not just as harmful as actual child porn. That's like saying that some murder cases so hard to prove that we are now going to allow a jury to convict a person of murder for burning or hanging someone in effigy, which is much easier to prove.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm not trying to play the role of an apologist for child molesters. Like any other sane person, I believe those who produce, distribute, or finance real child pornography should be punished severely. But what Ms. Gallagher is advocating is nothing more than zealotry and fanaticism run amok. Those who produce and/or possess only fantasy child porn are not harming any child by doing so. The courts notwithstanding, the "art" argument is irrelevant here. The point is that it is ridiculous, immoral, and just plain un-American to punish people who have not done harm to anyone. So far, the courts have agreed. God bless the USA!