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October 11, 2004
Is Terrorism like Prostitution?
Below is an excerpt from a long Volokh Conspiracy post about John Kerry's recent anology of fighting terrorism to fighting prostitution and illegal gambling. I agree with the conclusion that John Kerry is missing something big and further think that if he is elected the war on terrorism will quickly revert to pre a 9/11 strategy of reactive law enforcement rather than proactive war, which will be a very dangerous switch. The whole post is here:
Eugene Volokh: So I continue to be troubled by Kerry's choice of analogies in his quote, which as you recall is this:
New York Times: When . . . Kerry [was asked] what it would take for Americans to feel safe again, he displayed a much less apocalyptic worldview. "We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they're a nuisance," Kerry said. "As a former law-enforcement person, I know we're never going to end prostitution. We're never going to end illegal gambling. But we're going to reduce it, organized crime, to a level where it isn't on the rise. It isn't threatening people's lives every day, and fundamentally, it's something that you continue to fight, but it's not threatening the fabric of your life."
Eugene Volokh: It seems to me that our attitudes towards what is a not deeply threatening level of terrorism (which, I agree, is more than zero) should be vastly different from our attitudes towards what would be a tolerable level of prostitution or illegal gambling. And the difference is so great that I wonder whether the person who makes such an analogy is missing something big.
Posted by Pete at October 11, 2004 01:22 PM
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