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
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