MAXIM means MAXIMum Government?

"A cross between Marx and the Moral Majority," is how Libertarianz Party leader Russell Watkins described a submission on prostitution by Jenny Horst of the Maxim Institute. "It was an Orwellian nightmare of twisted words." Horst demanded that in a 'free society' a woman's choice to trade sexual favours for remuneration must be forbidden.

"In the guise of compassion and justice Horst demands state control and ridicules free markets. This from a so-called 'conservative' think tank. I wondered what Maxim meant now it appears to mean Maximum government, said Russell.

In her submission on the Prostitution Reform Bill Horst demands state control of prostitution through the back door. "Instead of banning women selling sex Horst went on about making it illegal to purchase sex. It's the same law in drag and it hasn't managed to stop prostitution from becoming the world's oldest profession," said Russell.

Horst "pretended to be concerned about the abuse of women in the sex industry yet it is illegality which makes it hard for these women to find legal protection. When the law strips any group of people from equal access to the law by making them illegal it opens them up to exploitation.

Historically this has been true of all legally marginalised groups be they 'illegal' immigrants, prostitutes or gay men," said Russell. "In the Maxim presentation it was claimed that the way to stop abuse is to keep prostitution illegal. But it is the illegality of the profession that has made it difficult for sex workers to seek legal protection in the first place," said the Libertarianz leader.

Russell said that while prostitution wouldn't be high on his list of chosen professions "that others choose the profession neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket. It doesn't violate my rights so it's none of my business, and nor is it any business of the Maxim Institute. He said this is "right-wing anny Statism which is just a odious as that which come from radical feminists, Labour activists and Green fringe lunatics. Maxim explicitly said that women need to be protected from the choices they make. It puts women on the same level as imbeciles and children who are deemed incapable of making rational decisions."

"People constantly make choices that are 'less than optimal'. In a free society that is inevitable. Maxim wants to restrict choice in the name of preventing people from harming themselves. That is the Nanny State in its purest form. Anyone who thinks that conservatives advocate either individual freedom or free markets only needs to read the Maxim submission to see the opposite is true. They specifically ridiculed "market forces" in their submission and demanded laws to stop people from doing things harmful to themselves. They jumped halfway down that slippery slope we hear so much about and without any principles in support of individual rights they'll slide down to absolute Nannyism before you know it," said Russell.

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