Texas II

 

Mind Your Business

Mindin' other people's business seems to be high-tone
But I got all that I can do just mindin' my own
And I'm gonna mind my own business (mind your own business)
Hey, mind your own business (mind your own business)
If you mind your business then you won't be mindin' mine

This is a country-western song.  Sing it along with me Texas.

If I approached a lawyer saying that I wished to file a civil suit in which I had experienced no economic costs (damages) but had experienced non-economic losses (pain and suffering), that lawyer would tell me that I had no case.  If I further said that I had no contract with the party that  I wished to sue, then I would be told that I also had no standing to file a civil case.  There is no civil case if I incurred only non-economic costs and I wished to sue someone with whom I had no contract.  If someone is offended by behavior which does not injure them, they would be told to mind their own business and put on their big-boy pants.

The United States has already experimented with making something a criminal rather than a civil offense by enacting a law. Prohibition made the sale and consumption of alcohol a criminal offense. In order to adopt a Constitutional Amendment, the proponents argued that society did incur economic costs ( the costs to society of lost wealth by, and the societal medical costs of dealing with, those who abused alcohol). The proponents neglected to mention the costs to society of prohibition (the disrespect of other laws by those who felt that they were not abusers but still wished to consume alcohol, and the growth of organized crime to help those to avoid the law, etc.).  Arguably the law also violated the protection in the Constitution against Cruel and Unusual punishments in that it criminalized and cruelly punished behavior for which there should be no punishment ( consumption but non-abuse of alcohol).

It is sad to see Texas ignore this lesson.  Not only should the punishment fit the crime, but just because something offends you, and you vote to make that behavior a crime, that does not mean that behavior is a crime. If something can not be a civil violation, enacting a law does not make it a criminal violation. Mind your own business!