Chuck Calderon.
When conservatives attack porn they use ‘the children’ and ‘decency’ as their rack and iron maiden, arguments commonly defeated by the first amendment. Dworkinites and left-wing social conservatives prefer rape and taxation, the last of which is an area of the law so boring and debatable it consistently proves to be porn’s most forbiding opponent.
AVN reports that Chuck Calderon (D-Whittier) is pushing a bill which uses the imagined ’secondary effects’ of porn production as an excuse to levy an extra tax on anyone making it. With few people prepared to defend porn in public his bill’s a triple win. It’ll bring in extra-revenue, have a cooling effect on the adult industry, and steer debate away from real issues like education, health care and crime. If defeated he gets to claim the mantle of ‘public defender’ and accuse anyone against him of being soft on vice.
Which begs me to ask why, in a region where thousands of people are involved in the porn industry, know it’s mostly benign, and stand to lose if the bill is passed, are opportunists like Calderon bold enough to attack the people who employ their constituents?
Why? There seems to me to be an “ostrich” mentality in “The Industry”: Find a hole in the ground, stick your head in it, and hope all the bad stuff passes you by. Opportunists like this guy (did you say he’s a Democrat representing Whittier? Whittier, CA is no where NEAR Porn Valley, so his constituents and the happy peppy porny people aren’t exactly one in the same.) always pick that “Hot Button” topic in order to do exactly what you said - distract and polarize and, at worse, boost the politico’s anti-fun stance.
The fact that our politics are so Puritan in nature must be rather laughable to yourself and other intelligent Europeans. The system needs an enema, my friend.
You really feel the need to ask?
In the same way that no one ever got fired for buying microsoft, no one ever got voted out for legislating against porn.
Even if the Distinguished Gentlemen in question is representing a district where porn is produced en masse (thought I’d argue that particular honor likely belongs to Brad Sherman, (D) Van Nuys, who had a really excellent sense of humor about it in a segment on the Colbert Report this one time) the simple fact is that there are other constituents in his district that don’t produce or approve of porn, and I’d hazard a guess that at least as far as public face goes, they outnumber the pro contingent.
Chris - You’re right about the geography but I’m referring to the people who live and work all over So. Cal. and make up the industry. It’s not the heart of things but not remote either and I agree with your analysis.
Rich - Thanks for the tip on Microsoft stock and yes, sadly porn remains politics seconded softest target (after child abusers).