ALL laws legislate somebody's morality. It is impossible to find a law, whether it concerns murder, theft, speeding, or even jay-walking, that doesn't prove this statement to be true.

Even the absence of laws is a reflection of somebody's morality.

All political ideologies demand that some system of laws be enacted to influence people's behaviour, thereby allowing one group to impose its morality on another group. All political philosophies in existence, even total anarchy, validate this claim.

Keep this in mind the next time you hear bold assertions against legislating morality, as there are no exceptions to either of these two points.

It makes no difference from which side of the political spectrum a law comes. Whether based on religion or not, whether conservative, liberal, or anything in between, as long as there are laws, or even a lack thereof, there will be legislation of morality. It is impossible to have it any other way.

JIM H HILL Jr, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.