Danger verses spitefulness

Sometimes I wonder why people are so intent on controlling other people's lives.

If it doesn't hurt anyone else, it should be okay in my opinion.  Rather than making certain things illegal, why not just regulate them to make them safe?  And cheaper!

There isn't going to be an underground for legal things, or at least not a really lucrative one.

Let everyone worry about their own eternal soul.  If you are that worried about it, pray for them, but don't send them to jail for it. 

You can't really protect most people from their own vices, because many of them don't believe their particular vices are that and because they will just find another sneakier way to indulge.

People, especially children and the disabled,  need to be protected from predators.  Stealing from people is wrong.  Injuring any living thing is wrong.  These are all very broad categories that should be treated the same across the board no matter who you are or how much money you have, but a lot of the other stuff people go to jail for is pure spitefulness on the part of power mongering busy bodies.

We could save ourselves a lot of time and money (and actually make some money too) if we revamped our thinking a little more.