The US has had it's (albeit mostly non-governmental) equivalents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Ever heard of the Hays Office? Did you know that the FBI has its origins in the BOI (Bureau Of Investigation), the sole purpose of which was to enforce the Mann Act? Then there was the Comics Code Authority, which, in 1971, tried to prevent Stan Lee from doing a series (in cooperation with the US Department of Health) featuring Spider-Man battling drug dealers because it mentioned narcotics (the context was "irrelevant"). Have you heard of Dominionism? It's a Christian nationalist policy that wants to replace the constitution with Leviticus; some radical...

The US has had it's (albeit mostly non-governmental) equivalents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Ever heard of the Hays Office? Did you know that the FBI has its origins in the BOI (Bureau Of Investigation), the sole purpose of which was to enforce the Mann Act? Then there was the Comics Code Authority, which, in 1971, tried to prevent Stan Lee from doing a series (in cooperation with the US Department of Health) featuring Spider-Man battling drug dealers because it mentioned narcotics (the context was "irrelevant"). Have you heard of Dominionism? It's a Christian nationalist policy that wants to replace the constitution with Leviticus; some radical Dominionists want to enact the death penalty for homosexuality and adultery (for which latter case, they'd end up killing a good number of their own followers).

It was only five years ago that Lawrence vs. Texas kicked the government out of gay bedrooms, and there are lots of people who would like to see that decision reversed. It seems to me that there are two main points of departure between morals enforcement in Saudi Arabia and the U.S.: first, it is more a matter of degree than substance and, second, that the most vocal proponents of moral enforcement would like to make their private ambitions public.