There are scavengers among us. They prey on the poor, the oppressed, and, strangely enough, the military. There are some things that the poor, the oppressed, and the military have in common. Loneliness, desperation, and a lack of money. I think that it is time to call a rat a rat.

Two of the industries that most benefit from desperation are the pornography and the pay day loan industries. If you are the purveyor of sexual immorality or financial desperation, then you are among those who prey on the weak and the desperate. I was in the Navy, two thousand miles from home, or more, young and confused. Fortunately, that was more than ten years ago, and the pay day loan industry had not quite managed a grip on the market of the down trodden and inexperienced. I managed to avoid financial disaster. Well, that’s not really true, but my disasters were not to the note of 300% interest. Also, the internet had not yet magnified the issue of pornography to the status of pandemic. If you doubt the status of pornography as a pandemic check out the statistics and then ask the guy next to you about it (or the girl, for that matter.)

This is a free market, and we should allow responsible business people to operate without restraint. If we cap the interest rate for a loan at, say, 39%, and you can’t make a living on that as a lender, then you should not be allowed to continue doing business. Also, if you make a living off of the sexual escapades of consenting adults, well, that’s a nasty business, but so be it. If you can’t make a living off from the consenting adults and you choose to use corrupt advertising tactics, cartoon names, and otherwise prey on the weakness of others, then you should not be allowed to stay in business.

I am not talking about a strict legislation option here, either. If we don’t want more legislation, and I personally don’t, then we should find a way to make it known that we are not going to allow this to continue. Perhaps we can create a public database of the names of the owners of the payday loan companies, and we can make it a point to let everyone know what those people do for a living. What would an action against the solicitors of pornography look like? I don’t know, really, but we consumers can be pretty creative. Perhaps we might think of something.

If we are going to change the story that our culture tells, then we have to change what is acceptable in our homes, in our neighborhoods, and in our marketplace. I am game for figuring out how that change will happen.

Any takers?