The Moonlite Bunny Ranch is a legal brothel in Nevada and a focal point for controversy. While it was once featured on HBO’s Cathouse, it is also used as an example of our country’s moral decay. While it might be considered heaven for sexually frustrated preteens, it might as well be hell for the Religious Right.
Not only would presidential nominee and former senator of Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum, crusade against the Bunny Ranch, he will do the same against pornography.
Forbes Magazine on March 15, 2012 elucidates, “He [Santorum] pledges to use the resources of the Department of Justice to fight that ‘pandemic,’ by bringing obscenity prosecutions against pornographers.”
The article continues by further detailing, “His statement references going after pornography that is
distributed not just on the Internet, but also on cable/satellite TV, on hotel/motel TV.”
I find it a bit bizarre that Santorum has made this bombastic promise, especially given that no other candidate has drawn significant coverage for addressing this issue.
Nonetheless, Santorum’s promise to go after pornography is nonsensical for multiple reasons. Initially, this
pledge is in no way realistic. The idea that we could somehow ban the distribution of pornography is akin to regulating what sexual positions can be used in the bedroom. Oh wait, we tried that and it failed.
Additionally, I am disturbed by Santorum’s rather broad-brush implication of sexuality as somehow immoral. Consider Santorum’s declaration in no way differentiates heterosexual, homosexual, biracial, bestiality, etc. pornography.
Had he made some moral distinction between these multiple categories (if we even need to form categories), perhaps he would be granted more moral legitimacy. Instead, he has assured his fans and voters that he will sweep all forms of sexually explicit material into the same waste basket and then seek to incinerate it.
Finally, there are so many pressing issues this country is facing; a still lagging economy, an explosive healthcare debate, the war overseas, war affected veterans, a collapsing infrastructure, etc., yet Santorum chooses to make pornography a part of his platform.
Even at the level of using a moral issue to campaign on, surely there are more worthy causes to dedicate the resources of the United States government to, say, beefing up our foreign aid programs to starving children across the world.
It seems overtly obvious Santorum is using this ridiculous, promised crusade against pornography to add to his “Religious Right” credentials. Yet it’s interesting to hear the realistic perspectives of the “unscrupulous” men of pornography.
Yahoo! News on March 16, 2012 cited Hustler magazine publisher, Larry Flynt in his criticism of Santorum’s empty promise. It reports Flynt as stating, “Whether it’s Newt offering $2 gasoline or Santorum wanting to ban
pornography or whatever else he’s doing, they’re making these promises and these threats, and they’re really empty and meaningless.”
The aforementioned Yahoo! News also cites Steven Hirsch, the founder of Vivid Entertainment, as opining, “Thankfully we live in America and we have a justice system. Certainly he can put together a task force and he can go after the adult industry and begin prosecutions. Certainly that won’t be cheap, but ultimately we’ll prevail because people don’t want to be told what they can watch in the privacy of their own home. It’s sometimes easy to attack the adult industry, but ultimately it doesn’t work.”
Santorum’s use of pornography as a political platform is as ridiculous as it is unrealistic. However, just as surely as he will continue to spew phony moral talk about pornography, there will be those who want pornography.
If Santorum actually wins the Republican nomination, I’ll take his pledge marginally more severe. However, until then, I’ll look to the Moonlite Bunny Ranch with a smile knowing that it likely frustrates Santorum and motivates his opposition.
