Quote of the Day

[elfs]

Jonathan Rauch on "hidden law," the social norms by which we all live, and which are enforced through communitarian actions rather than the actual force of the state:

If you believe, as seems plausible, that there is a genuine clash of interests between parents and sexual adventurers, then the old dictates of hidden law--"keep it out of sight," for instance--seem to be a pretty ingenious way to strike a balance.

Some especially conservative parents are indignant because sexual adventuring is too visible, while some especially radical adventurers are indignant because they are not allowed to copulate in front of City Hall. Everyone else wishes the conservatives and the radicals would stop pushing the envelope before the bargain collapses altogether, leaving nothing but cops and politicians and lawyers to tell us how to behave. In the end, the man who wants to replace norms with nothing is the best friend of the man who wants to replace norms with laws.