Because I can’t seem to find
anything worth writing about, my blogging days are apparently near an end.
Nearly all my thoughts these days center on Donald Trump, the things he says
and tweets, the things others say about him. I daily scour the newspapers for
editorials about him or letters to the editor on one side or the other; I watch
those tv news shows that aren’t biased against him even though he accuses and
accuses all but Fox News of being “fake news.” It’s driving me crazy and if I
didn’t already drink, he would drive me there, screaming all the way. I don’t
know whether to laugh or cry. Crying is more likely than laughing, despite his
laughable displays of ignorance, since he is no longer a laughing matter. Now,
he’s a fearful matter.
I
fear so much for our future. Just the thought that he might actually find
enough support to be re-elected in 2020 makes my blood run cold. In my entire
life, 85 years now, I’ve never felt so politically alienated. Unless I know
absolutely where someone stands on Trump, I’m afraid to mention him or anything
in current politics. The two sides on left and right are now so far apart that
any civil discussion would be impossible. So, I say nothing.
How
can his support be growing? Gun owners and members of the NRA, fearing for
their 2nd Amendment rights, vote for him. White supremacists, seeing
the influx of immigrants from Muslim regions and South American countries, fear
that America will become mongrelized and they vote for him. The ultra-wealthy,
who fear high taxation on their wealth, vote for him. Populists who hear and
fear any mention of socialism vote for him. Most of the Evangelical community
see him as a saving grace and vote for him.
In
2020, we have to make America sane again. We have to find someone who can get
this dreadful man out of the White House. I hope it’s sooner than 2020, but
impeachment doesn’t seem likely, and we may never see the results of Mueller’s
investigation. And we, as a nation, become ever more divided.
* * * * * *
First, I need to preface what I’m
about to say. I don’t want anyone to be offended by it and I’m sure most won’t
agree with or understand it, but so many stories in the news these days confuse
me, Trump, certainly, but also many other news items. In fact, I’ll probably
live to regret having explained my confusion.
One
such news bite that confuses me is the arrest of New England Patriots owner,
Robert Kraft, on charges of solicitation of a prostitute in the Florida sting
on various spas and massage parlors. The public outrage about his alleged crime
seems to me to be out of proportion to what he actually may or may not have
done. To some, the idea of prostitution is abhorrent, disgusting, criminal to
such a degree that those involved in it should be imprisoned and the key thrown
away. “The World’s Oldest Profession” it’s been called, with a wink-wink to
show how broad-minded the speaker is. And there are so many levels and kinds of
prostitution that the term shouldn’t be a catch-all. Cities and police forces
have nearly always tended to overlook the illegality of their “red-light
districts” or their streets that cater to “street walkers” or their high-end
hotels that provide “escort service” for their wealthy patrons. They overlooked
it all because there didn’t seem to be any victims, either in those doing the
soliciting or in those who were solicited. The pimps or madams kept everyone
and everything in line. No harm, no foul. A successful Broadway musical, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, painted
a rosy picture and sang happy songs about the profession, so it couldn’t be
such an abhorrent crime, could it? Or was that just putting new makeup on a
very sordid face?
There
are many other levels of the sex trade in which there are victims on both
sides: children sold like meat to anyone willing to pay, young women from other
countries who were promised employment here but were instead enslaved in sex
trafficking, drug addicts who resorted to prostitution to pay for their habit.
Different levels, different crimes. In a Google search (ProCon.org), I found a
poll that said from 15 to 20% of all males in the U.S. say they have at least
once paid for sex. That means that 15 to 20% of all males have committed the
crime that Robert Kraft is being charged with. Whoa, that’s a lotta men. And,
yes, I’m one of them. But that was a very long time ago when I was so very
young and so very naive.
I grew up in a tiny upper plains
town in South Dakota. One of the things most noteworthy about my hometown was
the fact that we had a whorehouse just outside the city limits. Everyone in
town knew what it was and that it was there, but nothing was ever done about
it. Oh, I guess there were attempts by one church group or another every
several years to get it shut down, but it remained. It was called The West-End
Tavern and it must have been established about the same time as the town, early
in the 2oth century. The local story was always that it was a way-station for
young women who wanted out of the national string of prostitution businesses
run by the Mob or by other gangster groups, a place where they could be safe
from the dangers of regular sex trafficking, where they (six to eight of them
at any one time) could earn enough money to make it out of the life. According
to local belief, they were not held there against their will nor did they have
to give up nearly all the money they made to some pimp or madam. I always
assumed that they paid half their earnings for room and board and they kept
half. They could leave whenever they wanted, either permanently or temporarily
on vacation to visit friends or relatives. I know that one of them often took
the train east to visit her family, and would then return. I don’t know how long
she stayed at the West-End Tavern but probably not very long. What were the
reasons for our townspeople or the law not shutting the place down? It was said
that the local young men would be less likely to impregnate a girlfriend, that
they could learn all about sex from a professional and not from just lame tame
tales about birds and bees, that the regular medical checkups of the girls
prevented anyone from contracting any sexually transmitted diseases. But finally,
in about 1960, the best little whorehouse in South Dakota was closed.
Back to Robert Kraft and my
confusion. Why was that spa in Florida targeted for the sting regarding human
trafficking? Why weren’t all illegal
prostitution sites shut down and those who operated them arrested? Why is it so
important to expose Robert Kraft to this public, national humiliation? In this
age of public scrutiny of anyone, everyone, by Big Brother and forces we don’t
know about or understand, aren’t we all subject to public exposure of every
detail of our lives? Aren’t we all in danger of being spied on and listened to
without our consent or knowledge?
Anyone
who chooses to run for public office these days had better be absolutely
certain his or her past is spotless. If I had chosen to run for public office,
could my admission of having once paid for sex have prevented it? I’d like to
think not, but that’s just my naiveté talking.
Personally,
I don’t feel any guiltier of a criminal act than Robert Kraft probably does.
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