Let’s be clear what we’re talking about here … many conservatives believe that hardcore pornography on the internet is illegal. Despite an almost unlimited amount of demand for pornography … conservatives want to start enforcing the laws that already exist on the books. This could include putting producers of mainstream porn in jail if they fail to keep the proper documentation on their actresses and actors … this could include shutting down websites of mainstream porn websites or even going after the owners of those websites and prosecuting them in court with jail time as the consequence.
Republicans want “smaller government” but they’re very interested in knowing what you’re doing behind closed doors; I can’t think of a better use for taxpayer dollars frankly. Conservatives preach less regulation on banks, oil and coal companies but when it comes to what you do in your personal life behind closed doors … well – they want more regulation. It’s perverse. Welcome to the American Taliban…
Forbes has the story HERE:
But an anti-porn crusader says Mitt Romney has vowed if he’s elected president, he’ll ramp up obscenity prosecutions, a task President Obama has shown little interest in pursuing.
According to Patrick Trueman, who ran the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section at the Department of Justice under President Reagan and President George H. W. Bush and who now runs Morality in Media, an anti-porn organization, Romney intends to launch a war on porn.
In a meeting with Alex Wong, Romney’s foreign and legal policy director, Trueman says Wong told him, “Romney is sincere about this. He’s convinced this has now had a terrible effect on society, and he will enforce the law.”
Reuters explains more on the GOP platform which calls for a big crackdown on pornography HERE:
Though previous Republican platforms have called for increased prosecution of child pornography, this appears to be the first time that the party has called for a crackdown on sexually explicit material involving adults – a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Anti-pornography activist Patrick Trueman said the language in the Republican platform would bolster a broader push against the type of sexually explicit material that is sold by convenience stores, by hotels via pay-per-view television programming, and satellite and cable TV providers.
The widespread availability of Internet pornography has made it harder for a generation of young men to find intimacy with their wives, he said.
The GOP platform this year was expanded beyond just cracking down on child pornography to “all forms” of pornography; the Daily Caller has the story HERE:
In a Monday morning press release, advocacy group Morality in Media revealed that “new language replaces previous platform wording, which only opposed child pornography.”
According to MIM, the new wording will read, “Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced.”
The party platform was drafted by a 112-member committee and will be unveiled early this week.
Existing obscenity laws “not only prohibit distribution of hardcore pornography on the Internet but also on hotel/motel TV, on cable/satellite TV, and in retail shops,” said MIM President Patrick Trueman.
“Distribution of obscene or hardcore pornography on the Internet is a violation of current federal law,” said Trueman, a former anti-porn prosecutor in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.
In January of this year – Romney’s campaign gave a statement HERE:
“(I)t is imperative that we cultivate the promotion of fundamental family values. This can be accomplished with increased parental involvement and enhanced supervision of our children. It includes strict enforcement of our nation’s obscenity laws, as well as the promotion of parental software controls that guard our children from Internet pornography.”
Salon explains the legal precedent and legal challenges and ambiguities with such an ambitious effort HERE.
In 2007 during his runup to president in the last election that he would require all computer companies to have a pornography filter installed on the computers; I’ve shared that HERE:
“I want to make sure that every new computer sold in this country after I’m president has installed on it a filter to block all pornography.”
~Mitt Romney
But it isn’t just Romney … it is the conservative base of the Republican party that wants to go back to 19th century family values. During the primary – Rick Santorum said this HERE:
“America is suffering a pandemic of harm from pornography. A wealth of research is now available demonstrating that pornography causes profound brain changes in both children and adults, resulting in widespread negative consequences.”
It’s a big part of what Republicans stand for.
