Republican presidential candidate John Kasich drew fire from women’s groups and the Democratic Party when he responded to a question from a college student at a town hall in Watertown, N.Y., about sexual assault. Kasich said all the right things about prosecuting criminals, but what got the Ohio governor in trouble with leftists was the ending of his response: “I would also give you one piece of advice: Don’t go to parties where there’s a lot of alcohol, OK? Don’t do it.” Let’s examine that advice. To do that, let’s ask a few common-sense questions.
Does someone have the right to put their wallet on the hood of their car, go to a movie, come back and find the wallet and its contents intact? You say, “Williams, you lost it! Why would anyone do something that crazy?” If that’s your response, you’re missing the point of Kasich’s critics. People have a duty to respect private property rights. So why shouldn’t someone feel comfortable leaving their wallet on the hood of their car and expecting it to be there when they come back?
If this person’s wallet were stolen, what would you advise? Would it be to encourage people to respect private property rights? To put this in the context of feminist responses to Kasich’s suggestion, you could argue that it’s outrageous to suggest that people “curb their behavior.” Simple, common sense would say that yes, a person has the right to put their wallet on the hood of their car and expect it to be there when they come back. But we don’t live in a world full of angels; therefore, the best thing to do is to keep your wallet in your pocket.
Here’s a question that applies the same principle. Does a voluptuous, scantily clad adolescent woman have the right to attend a raucous frat party, dance suggestively, get drunk, and not respond to unwanted advances? My answer is yes. Her body is her private property, and she has every right to expect that her drunken state will not be exploited. Let’s say you’re the father of a adolescent woman. Would you advise something like this? “Wear scantily clad clothing, dance suggestively, and get drunk. If a guy makes unwanted advances, we’ll catch him and charge him with rape.” I bet most fathers would advise the opposite: “Dress and act like a respectable lady, don’t go to drunk parties, and don’t get drunk.” It’s like the advice about leaving your wallet on the hood of your car. People aren’t angels, and one’s behavior should reflect that.
Imagine you have a well-behaved, law-abiding son whose friends are not so well-behaved and law-abiding. They do drugs, shoplift, and skip school. Your son does none of these things. As a responsible parent, you would advise your son to be alone rather than to be in bad company and have people judge you by the people you hang out with. Your son might respond, “I have rights. If I don’t do anything wrong, I shouldn’t be judged by what my friends do!” Your response should be, “You’re right, but unfortunately that’s not how the world works.”
Here is another common sense issue, especially relevant to today’s police/citizen relations. Imagine that it is the middle of the night and a police officer suspects a adolescent driver. The officer uses the excuse that the adolescent man had illegally changed lanes to pull him over. If the driver were your son, how would you advise him to exercise his right to free speech and reprimand the officer for pulling him over on such a dubious basis? Would you advise him to quietly hand over his license and registration and answer his questions, which would probably allow him to drive away without a ticket?
Teaching adolescent people, especially adolescent men, Benjamin Franklin’s admonition that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is a challenging task. But it is the job of adults to convey such common-sense messages, even at the cost of leftist condemnation.
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