This nation that we live in is undoubtedly one of the greatest ever to exist. Vast in size, we are varied in religious practices, background and temperament. Each region of the country has its own dialect, cuisine, and culture.

With all of these differences, we still somehow manage to overcome them and unite, and pass laws that are for the greater good of all. We’ve grown and adapted through the years, changing social inequalities and improving lives.

There are times however, when decisions are made by those in power that both baffle and go against everything we hold dear. Oregon’s decision to remove restrictions prohibiting “live sex shows” and close contact by nude dancers is beyond any sane person’s comprehension.

The Oregon Supreme Court recently struck down as unconstitutional a state law that banned conducting live sex shows, and also voted to allow nude dancers to approach customers instead of remaining at least four feet away as they had done before.

In the pair of 5-1 decisions, the Justices stated that the previous restrictions were a violation of the state Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech and free expression. Oregon’s Constitution states, “No law shall be passed restraining the free expression of opinion, or restricting the right to speak, write or print freely on any subject whatever.”

In writing the majority opinions in both cases, Justice Michael Gillette said, “It appears to us to be beyond reasonable dispute that the protection extends to the kinds of expression that a majority of citizens in many communities would dislike – and even to physical acts, such as nude dancing or other explicit sexual conduct that have an expressive component.”

In other words, anyone can obtain a license, open a business, and hire people to have sex on stage, in full view of paying customers, and law enforcement officers have no power whatsoever to shut down the business. Apparently, having sex in public is nothing more than freedom of speech. Gone are the days when sex was a personal expression between two people, conducted in privacy.

And yet, Oregon has outlawed the simple practice of pumping your own gas. Apparently the powers that be believe that their citizens can’t be entrusted with this dangerous task, and must be protected for their own good.

So, if having sex in public is freedom of expression and speech, what exactly are they trying to say? The only statement that I hear being expressed is that Oregon’s Supreme Court Justices have collectively lost their so-called minds. It’s time that someone protected the people from them.