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					The Professor
			3.16.05
	When Morals Don’t Matter About a month back, I read in a few popular online news sources about a couple of new steps that Germany was taking to encourage job growth in its slumping economy. The first was that out-of-work individuals would now have their government unemployment assistance linked to their willingness to work: If a job was available, and you didn’t want to take it, then you surrendered your right to take benefits. On first blush, this seems reasonable, especially in light of the trend (though often overstated by Germans I’ve spoken with) in Germany today to opt for a unemployment check that pays relatively more than the paycheck at the end of the month. The position of the government is that this is untenable – that even lower-paying jobs are a necessary part of a working economy. Like most laws, however, this piece of legislation has proved to have some unintended consequences, particularly after it came to loggerheads with another bit of lawmaking that sought to address an ugly aspect facet of life in Germany that had become particularly problematic in the eastern part of that country: human trafficking, especially for purposes of using women as sex-slaves. Following the view taken in the Netherlands that legalizing drugs removes the risks that come with the darker side of the illegal drug trade, members of Germany’s Bundestag decided to make adult, consensual prostitution a legal trade on par with exotic dancing and other forms of “adult entertainment”. These pieces of legislation – one economic, one social – were written with the best of intentions: to improve the lives of Germans by releasing them from unhealthy dependence on unemployment benefits and from unhealthy treatment by incorrigible pimps and johns, respectively. They have also created the legal conditions under which a 25 year-old waitress was faced with the choice of either becoming a prostitute or losing her unemployment benefits. There was an “opening” in Berlin for a position in a brothel. Bar keeping fell under the same employment category as prostituting. She was a legitimate candidate. What’s amazing about this case is that is really is that simple. There is nothing to prevent women in the adult entertainment business (which includes serving alcoholic beverages in bars and clubs) from being pushed into the sex industry by the bulldozer of economic prerogative. What simplifies the matter considerably is the absence – more precisely, the revocation – of any reference or recourse to a moral code. There are a few ways to interpret this sad state of affairs. The libertarian view will see this as further evidence of the danger of government intrusion in public life, even when that interference comes with goal of social improvement in mind. The more you meddle, the more likely you are to fall prey to the law of oh-shit-I-never-saw-that-coming. The conservative view will see this as further evidence of the dangers that come from legislating morality: that the proper role of government lies in reinforcing traditional cultural arrangements, and that there is a risk in trying to go over the heads of people by telling them what’s best for them. And the liberal view, at least as defined by many of the socialist minds in Germany today? Although there are some who have found this state of affairs unfortunate, there is a considerable proportion of those who flinch at the thought that there is anything “sad” going on. To the extent that morality is not a reliable, “enlightened”, way to guide human thought and action, it should not be invoked when considering the best path in life. To the extent that morality is a “bourgeois” code of conduct that reinforces existing power relationships between the haves and the have-nots, it should not be called upon if the ultimate goal of social policy is to release the underclass from its chains. To the extent that this waitress doesn’t want to sell her body for sex because she finds prostitution out of keeping with her religious convictions, then, tough shit. At this point, this last view seems to be the accepted policy of the German government. What a country.
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