Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss has this to say about prostitution: 
"Look, it's going to go on. You're never going to stop prostitution. The way to do it is to regulate it. Clean it up a bit. Make it fair--fair for the girls, fair for the clients. At the end the government gets money out of it."

(via Kottke)
Regardless of my views on prostitution or any other illegal activity (no, I'm not a client), I couldn't agree more.  Things like prostitution, drugs, and a host of other illegal activities will happen whether they're illegal or not.  Rolling Stone did a story on the drug war and estimated its cost at around $500 billion over its 35-year history, with the end result being that drugs are now even cheaper and easier to get.  The conclusion:  It was a total waste of money and the war on drugs failed.  If people want to smoke pot, they'll find a way.  And many pot-smokers will never get caught or go to jail or move on to harder drugs or kill their families. 

Getting back on topic, my point here is that instead of spending all this time and money enforcing laws like this, we should just legalize a few things, and tax them.  Can you imagine how many people would be in line for our nation's first federally-regulated (and taxed) Marijuana Store™?  Holy crap.  Or how about picking up a prostitute on the street corner ... of Times Square in NYC ... in broad daylight?  Of course she would need to be registered with the city, but the client wouldn't have to sneak around some back-alley red-light district and run the risk of getting shot.  So not only would our nation be saving money on enforcement (and with it, jail time in already overcrowded prisons), we'd be gaining money through tax revenue. 

I'll admit it's quite easy to come up with a counterargument to this, and here are a few: 
  1. Which laws would we abolish?  All of them?  How would we decide which laws were legitimate (cocaine trafficking) and which ones were stupid (j-walking)?
  2. Legalizing prostitution and drugs is a slippery slope.  How would our nation maintain any semblance of order or law?
  3. Illegal activities often go hand in hand with other illegal activities.  Won't legalized drugs lead to more gang violence?  Won't legalized prostitution lead to more sexual abuse and/or a general downfall in our nation's values?
These are all excellent arguments that deserve careful consideration before any decisions are made.  And even if a decision was made, how would it be enacted?  All of a sudden, certain things are legal?  That would lead to chaos and anarchy.  Nevertheless, I think it's an interesting proposition and I still support it.  If I ever run for president, this will be my platform:  Legalize It and Tax It. #money