Vices vs Crimes

 I attended the Newquist breakfast in Salt Lake City Saturday morning—it was an early start at 6 AM!  The topic of one presentation introduced an idea I find valuable and intriguing. Michael Pratt’s presentation was titled “Vices vs. Crimes."

He defined a vice as an act by which one harms himself and his own property, and a crime as an act where one harms the person or property of another.

The thrust of Michael’s presentation was that our federal policies are turning vices into crimes. He states that when we do, we interfere with individual rights and liberty. He explained that in the process of making choices we must experiment with options, some of which will not be good and wise. Nevertheless, that experimentation is necessary for us to grow in wisdom nd experience. The story of Adam and Eve recounts this, as Eve says that we must know the evil in order to appreciate the good.

Consider, then, if we make vices into crimes, we eliminate the ability of individuals to learn the lessons they need to learn. In the end, we destroy the learning process. 

He also compared vices and virtues:  a vice starts with pleasure and gets worse from there, whereas a virtue starts with something challenging and leads to something good.

I’m still mulling over this. It’s a deep concept, and I’d like to hear your ideas on the topic. I‘ll write more on it later, as I understand it better.

Pam