The government cannot change the inner soul of people. It can only give us civil guidelines to live by. Or revolt against--peacefully I hope. I revolted once. In the early 70's. Very peacefully. I made a picket sign and started walking up and down in front of an establishment directly across from the Junior High School. I had talked with the manager and asked him to put the pornography magazines under the counter since he was so close to the school. Young children--that came over the lunch hour--then couldn't stand and thumb through the magazines. I felt that it was wrong and in conflict with the morals of many (actually most) of the parents in our town.
He refused. So I got a picket sign. Very quietly I began to picket. Before long, word spread over the town and a crowd had gathered and others had joined me. Then more. And more. Quietly. The police came. Then the mayor. Then the newscasters. No body knew what to do with me. Finally, the mayor--who was a Christian--found a law on the city charter that said that what I was doing was legal. By then, the proprietor was begging me to leave. "I will, as soon as the magazines are under the counter," I said. He not only moved them, he threw them out. Four other establishments sent representatives to inform me that they had changed their policies and removed all such stuff from the shelves and told the distributers not to bring any of it back.
Larry Flynt was upset and wrote asking me, "Who do you think you are. These magazines are legal, protected free speech." They may have been legal. But by exercising my right of peaceful protest, the store owners decided they didn't want to lose business and changed their policies. It made the national news. A friend in California called and asked me what I was doing on national television. I wish I could say I made a difference permanently, but look around. We are drowning in porn. It may be legal, but it isn't moral. When you do the right thing, you will be criticized. Expect it.
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