Aw crap.

Come off it.

OK. You have kids, right? What do you think about underage sex?

In the 19th Century, the Age of Consent was as low as 10; by the end of the last Century it had increased to an average of around 16 in the Free world (only 14 in Canada, though) as a result of constant enlightened political pressure to protect children. Hopefully we can agree that this pressure was not purely a "Liberal" attribute.

There's an article about to be published in NEMJ (I think) that insists that the majority of 13-year-olds consider that underage sex is perfectly normal if both parties feel like it. A great deal of dissatisfaction has been expressed about a schoolboy who found himself jailed after an encounter with another minor at a party. The WHO reckons that 1 in 3 15-year-olds has already had sex.

In the case of Canada, the Liberals recently sought a law change *raising* the age of consent to 18 if the partner is in a position of authority.

That's the dilemma for today's adults. They're caught between a desire to protect youth and to decriminalize behavior that youth regard as normal. People grapple honestly and reasonably with these ideas and it seems improper for others to pop up decades later and claim that only one faction was on the side of enlightened social change while the others sought to block it.

I have to agree with Kevin Goff on this one. Terms like liberal and conservative have far less meaning in our secular age where information is readily available. We all just need to get on with doing our best, supporting standards where we feel it matters and hopefully leaving things better for those who follow, even if they regard us as old-fashioned and dull. ;-)