Should people go to jail for having an affair?

Should extra-marital affairs and premarital sex be illegal activities? According to one conservative in Alaska who is being appointed to nominate state judges, yes, and many wonder how those extreme views would color the candidates he would approve.

Via Anchorage Daily News:

Quote :

Gov. Sean Parnell's appointee for the panel that nominates state judges testified Wednesday that he would like to see Alaskans prosecuted for having sex outside of marriage.

The candidate, Don Haase of Valdez, also admitted under questioning by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that his official resume failed to disclose his leadership role in Eagle Forum Alaska, which advocates for social conservative issues. He most recently was president of the organization, but resigned when he learned of his nomination, he said.

...

One blog post on the Eagle Forum Alaska site praised efforts at criminalizing adultery in Michigan, and Paskvan asked Haase if he thought it should be a felony in Alaska.

"I don't see that that would rise to the level of a felony," Haase said.

Paskvan: "Do you believe it should be a crime?"

Haase: "Yeah, I think it's very harmful to have extramarital affairs. It's harmful to children, it's harmful to the spouse who entered a legally binding agreement to marry the person that's cheating on them."

Paskvan: "What about premarital affairs -- should that be a crime?"

Haase: "I think that would be up to the voters certainly. If it came before (the state) as a vote, I probably would vote for it ... I can see where it would be a matter for the state to be involved with because of the spread of disease and the likelihood that it would cause violence. I can see legitimate reasons to push that as a crime."

Haase states that trying to actually change laws via the panel would be a "very convoluted" path to take, and that his personal views really wouldn't have much effect on which candidates he chose to instate as judges. However, the Eagle Forum itself discusses how important being able to choose judges is in creating the sort of society they want, and how the judiciary is actually becoming the "strongest" of the three branches of government.

Quote :

The Founding Fathers designed the judiciary to be the weakest of the three branches of government. But supremacist judges over the last half century have expanded the judiciary into the most powerful branch of government, making policy decisions on the most vital and controversial issues of the day.

Should Haase end up in the position, there is no doubt that it would be used to move the judiciary as far to the right as is possible, and that the repercussions would be felt throughout the state.

Source

Do you agree with this?

Or do you think affairs are none of the government's business?

Our Prisons are already crazy overcrowded and this fool wants to fill them up even more? Who is going to pay to feed all these inmates? The taxpayers, right?

Fuck that...

if people want to screw around while married, that's their business...no one else's

yeah in the end the taxpayers will be stuck paying for this, which isnt fair. Why must we pay for the guys and gals out there who cant keep it in their pants lol

if this was ever up for a vote i'd vote no so fast lol it sucks to get cheated on but it's not the government's business who is sleeping around with who.

No, wtf this aint the scarlett letter, nooo, its peoples bizz get the hell over it america.

No, they shouldn't. Sex is a personal experience that the governemnt shouldn't be getting involved in, even if it adulterus sex.

I don't give fuck what other people are doing with their no no parts. This is what's wrong with the world now everyone is so caught up in what the next person is doing instead of worrying about their own damn self.

I don't agree with that at all. What I will say though is if you're going to have an affair, you probably shouldn't be married. Sure, people make mistakes, but if you're going to have an affair... marriage isn't for you.

Some of those conservative types who say such ridiculous things cheat out their spouses just like other people, so they need to knock it off.