Legal Prostitution?

The Libertarian instincts of Sykes were unleashed this morning while he commented on using police time and resources to track down and arrest local whores; he asked the question 'whether prostitution should be legal?'

He didn't mention "safe and rare," but hey...

That's a question that I satirized when I was around 21 years of age, in discussing what could be done with a fine old mansion at the east end of Wisconsin Avenue. Back then, not even the Democrat I worked for was amused.

Regardless, by co-incidence (perhaps NOT,) another blogger published a brief on our old pal, Friedrich Nietzsche, whose philosophy just happens to coincide with Libertarian thinking on the subject. (Or perhaps it's more accurate to state that Libertarian thinking follows that of Nietzsche.)

Quoting Peter Kreeft, the blogger posts:

Friedrich Nietzsche called himself “the Anti-Christ,” and wrote a book by that title. He argued for atheism as follows: “I will now disprove the existence of all gods. If there were gods, how could I bear not to be a god? Consequently, there are no gods.”

He scorned reason as well as faith, often deliberately contradicted himself, said that “a sneer is infinitely more noble that a syllogism” and appealed to passion, rhetoric and even deliberate hatred rather than reason.

He saw love as “the greatest danger” and morality as mankind’s worst weakness. He died insane, in an asylum, of syphilis-signing his last letters “the Crucified One.” He was adored by the Nazis as their semi-official philosopher.

But in Nietzsche’s last work, “The Will to Power,” the lack of an end or goal appears as demonic, and mirrors the demonic character of the modern mind. Without a God, a heaven, truth, or an absolute Goodness to aim at, the meaning of life becomes simply “the will to power.” Power becomes its own end, not a means. Life is like a bubble, empty within and without; but its meaning is self-affirmation, egotism, blowing up your bubble, expanding the meaningless self into the meaningless void. “Just will,” is Nietzsche’s advice. It does not matter what you will or why.

We are now in a position to see why Nietzsche is such a crucially important thinker, not despite but because of his insanity. No one in history, except possibly the Marquis de Sade, has ever so clearly, candidly and consistently formulated the complete alternative to Christianity.
Pre-Christian (i.e., pagan) societies and philosophies were like virgins. Post-Christian (i.e., modern) societies and philosophies are like divorcees. Nietzsche is no pagan pre-Christian, but the essential, modern post-Christian and anti-Christian.

Note that Nietzsche's "will to power" sees love as "the greatest danger." When you've internalized that, you begin to understand the flaw in his thinking--but to cut to the chase, N. postulates that one can "make his own rules" through the Will to Power.

This is also referred to as 'the transvaluation of all values' by other critics of N., and acceptance of N.'s position implies not only the legitimization of prostitution, but an anarchical situation which neither Conservatives nor good Republicans should espouse.