Fifty Shades of Red Tape: When Bureaucrats Regulate Your Sex Life

Fifty Shades of Red Tape: When Bureaucrats Regulate Your Sex Life May 1, 2016

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Remember when liberals used to say, “Just keep the government out of the bedroom?” Who would’ve thought those were the good ol’ days?  Out-of-control government bureaucrats are regulating more and more as they strangle the freedom out of every aspect of life. 

Now, liberals are teaming up with two of their favorite groups – bureaucrats and trial lawyers – to try to pass regulations that could make every single one of us a rapist in the eyes of the law.

That’s right – the regulations are now coming to bedrooms across America. In just a few weeks, the American Law Institute – an organization of lawyers who lobby federal, state, and local governments to pass their model laws – will vote on whether to make “affirmative consent” laws a part of the model penal code.

So what are “affirmative consent” laws? These laws require you to explicitly ask and receive clear consent before engaging in every step of sexual activity.  Thus far, they’ve only been passed in coastal states and only apply to college students.  But the American Law Institute is dangerously flirting with the idea that these laws should apply to everyone, everywhere.

“Can I kiss you? Can I kiss you there? Can I touch you? Can I touch you there?” You get the idea. And if they don’t receive an affirmative yes, they eopen up the door for sexual assault or even rape charges.  In other words, these new laws make an already confounding area of criminal law – sex – into something even more complicated and potentially rife with injustice.

As the law works right now, rape and sexual assault are just like every other crime, including murder, armed burglary, and arson.  That’s as it should be.  If someone is accused of a crime, the burden is on the state to prove that the alleged perpetrator actually committed that crime.  The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized this principle fundamental to our justice system, stating in Coffin v. U.S. in 1895, “The principle that there is a presumption of innocence in favor of the accused is the undoubted law, axiomatic and elementary, and its enforcement lies at the foundation of the administration of our criminal law.” That case also details the roots of the maxim, from Deuteronomy and the Mosaic law to Roman law and beyond.

In one fell swoop, however, this millennia-old principle is being tossed out. And for what? A law that’s impossible to enforce?

Under “affirmative consent” laws, the burden shifts to the alleged perpetrator to prove that he or she did not in fact commit sexual assault or rape.

It’s completely unconstitutional, impractical, and quite frankly, insane.

It’s not surprising though.  It seems that the sexual revolution becomes more of a totalitarian regime every day.   It throws common sense and responsibility out the window in the name of “freedom” and “progress”, all the while unraveling the legal and moral fabric of our nation.  

And now innocent people could now find themselves in the crosshairs. Consensual sexual activity can now get you thrown in prison for decades for rape.

Whatever happened to keeping the government out of the bedroom?


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