THE LIBERTARIAN POINT OF VIEW - CONT'D
Go ahead, be a pimp!
Yet another undertone prevalent in the documentary is the concept that pimps need to be persecuted and prosecuted. Let's be clear. We are against any kind of in-voluntary violence against any person regardless of its origin. However, persecuting and prosecuting pimps just because they are pimps is utterly unacceptable. There are plenty of pimps and madams that do not exploit prostitutes in any manner while providing valuable services to them, for a voluntary fee. They provide and organize safety, security and provide a steady clientele. This is plain and simple voluntary contracts and nothing more. It is only because of the existence of laws (all of them idiotic and subjective) that pimps and madams are persecuted and prosecuted. And what is the end result of all of this? As neither pimps nor madams cannot exercise their right to contract voluntarily, they must operate in black markets making them far more effective and efficient. Furthermore, because these professions are risky because of the existence of such laws, many prostitutes must operate completely independently which significantly increase their operating risks!
Go ahead, prostitute yourself!
One of the secondary themes throughout the episode is the comparative level of poverty that prostitutes have to endure. Basically, they are robbed of their profits by pimps or gangs or organized crime. As they cannot go to the police, they are trapped. However, in a Libertarian system under a free market, there is no inefficient and ineffective and bureaucratic police. There are only private security organizations. These organizations do understand that prostitution is highly lucrative and they will begin offering security contracts to prostitutes against pimps, gangs and organized crime. This will do so precisely because this business is so lucrative. There is a huge incentive in providing this service. Furthermore, as such service is based on voluntary contracts, such organizations would have nothing to fear from repayment-seeking organizations, contrary to pimps, gangs and organized crime who will be at a complete disadvantage.
We must remember that the biggest organized crime organizations today operate precisely because they are private enterprises opposed only but bureaucratic and inefficient government organizations. These organizations are out-strategized, out-spent, out-gunned and out-manned at every turn. But in a Libertarian system, these criminal organizations would be matched by equally efficient and effective organizations with all the possible incentives to do so. Presto! Instant balance.
Does this means that organized crime would disappear in a Libertarian system? Of course not but it will certainly be greatly diminished precisely because violence is so-counterproductive to the bottom line.
Basically, in a Libertarian system the vast majority of the profits prostitutes earn would be kept in their pockets, not in the pockets of intermediaries. It is for this very same reason that pimps are so afraid of so-called "renegade" prostitutes because they are showing the way to other workers and cutting out the middle manager.
Go ahead, support your family!
Yet another point that needs addressing is the fact that as the documentary itself refers to in several occasions, many people go into prostitution due to poor economic conditions… conditions that were created by governments in the first place! Take a look at what happened over the last 200+ years: wars (see The Aggressiveness Of Modern Democracies) and economic debacles with no end in sight. Do you honestly believe that all these catastrophes were caused by people? Of course not. They were caused by a very tiny percentage of the world population, enabled by massive governments to do so. In a Libertarian system the standards of living increase constantly while prices drop all the time (see Deflation Is A Good Thing) and there are no enabling organizations simply because such enablements are simply economically not viable. In such conditions there are no "economic downturns" and hence a great deal of people would never need to go into prostitution. Which makes available prostitutes so much more valuable and worthy of increased safety and wages!
Go ahead, prostitute yourself anywhere!
Yet another point to be made is the issue of prostitution tourism, e.g. Korean girls traveling to the US for 90 days to maximize their prostitution wages. In such conditions they are thoroughly persecuted by US Immigration officers and controlled by pimps and gangs. But all this power stems from the fact that there is no free movement of people and no free contractual capacity in the world. Should a Korean girl be able to prostitute herself anywhere in the world, a great deal of power that controlling pimps and organizations have over these people would not exist at all! The inescapable conclusion is, again, that governments are the great enablers that create the conditions making possible to control and exploit cross-border prostitutes.
Go ahead, keep your profits!
One of the more bizarre statements in the documentary is the police officer that demonstrates concern over the lack of tax payments exhibited by massage parlours. This person is clearly not concerned about the safety, security or legality of such establishments, but about tax money! In other words, a "law and order" representative is overwhelmingly concerned about the capacity of the government to extort money (i.e. tax). It goes without saying that as his salary is paid by said taxes, there is in here more than a modicum of vested interest in maintaining and reinforcing the state-sponsored and state-administered "protection racket" embodied in the taxation system.
This very same officer is overly concerned about the fact that prostitution in massage parlours is a "cash business". This in laughable indeed because US went to incredible lengths to force people to use cash in the first place. Did you know that in US if you offer to pay with US cash and this offer is rejected you are not obligated to pay? At all? And you can just walk away with your good or service for free? Did you know that? We would guess that "law and order" officials would be aware of this federal law… albeit it would seem they are not.
Let's be clear, it is none of government business how do we pay for the goods and services which we contract voluntarily. This is plain and simple intrusion in our business.
CONCLUSION
In subjects such as these there is so much idiocy, nonsense and pre-conceived notions that we could write a book about them. Alas, your time and our time is valuable. Our goal here is simply to open your eyes and to make you understand that Libertarianism and free markets are the solution, not the problem. That most problems are created by governments and the only real solution is to get rid of all of them. Forever. The topic of prostitution (and even the use of this word has negative connotations) is downright insulting to working men and women. In the end and at the bottom of it all they are simply exercising their right to contract freely. Anything else built on top of this is nothing but the twisted views of politicians created during their permanent search for job security and the maintenance of their personal privileges through the use of government positions.
Alas, there are people "out-there" that believe in ethics, morality and religion and as such prostitution is streng verboten. We have no qualms against these people. Their beliefs are theirs and theirs alone. What we object to the very end is the notion that they have any right whatsoever to impose these beliefs on other people, mostly through the enabling actions of governments. For this people we have only one question: how would they like to be required to have sex with strangers as part of a religious ritual such as the one taking place in Indonesia in the Gunung Kemukus (Sex Mountain)? No? And why not? If you have the right to impose your views on them, then they have the moral right, no, the moral, ethical and religious obligation to impose theirs on you!
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.