Support Gay Marriage?…Get the Government Out Of Marriage!
“If, say, a totalitarian government…dissolved my marriage, my wife and I would still be married. The state could make our lives miserable, but it couldn’t end our marriage.” – Steven Greenhut from a Reason.com article
The “debate” over gay marriage is one of these things that has been trumped up and engineered to hold the population’s attention; to distract and more importantly actually change the paradigm of what people think they should be fighting over. Lets clear up what its all about. People aren’t *really* arguing for or against two men or two women being together. They are arguing about how the government should make its arbitrary and meaningless laws in regards to marriage. They are arguing for their masters to allow them to do something. And the other side is arguing for their masters to forbid certain people from doing something. Either way, people are missing the point. They’re begging master just like they beg master for everything else – laws for this, laws for that, let us do this, forbid them from doing that. Sadly, its become the American way. The entire system of laws has become so absurd and corrupted – the whole thing is mostly meaningless. People are losing confidence in the US government.
But back to point. Through the way the media has reported on the “issues” in the last 100 years, the way the schools teach, the way the government governs, and from think tanks and organizations on both “sides” of every issue – the entire spectrum of issues has been manufactured. We are told what is important. We are force fed what they want us to pay attention to. They have people believing in myths of the state from school age on up. They’ll have the tv obsessed masses glued to some story for months – some story that is really a non-issue. Because they’re masters in framing – to pull at people’s feelings, to make things about what they’re not really about to create the narrative they want.
To me, the gay marriage “issue” is very easy to boil down and see correctly. Here it is – the government should have no business in the marriage business. They shouldn’t allow or forbid certain types of relationships. They shouldn’t give special treatment to certain people based on their particular type of personal relationships. They shouldn’t have a system of theft that treats different types of people in different ways. It doesn’t even make any sense that taxes and marriage are related at all. Any “conservatives” who claim to be for individual rights, the constitution, and the government staying out of people’s business should understand this. Any “liberals” who say they are for fairness and equality should see it as well. But of course most people don’t see this. Most people will cling onto well ingrained beliefs and ideas their entire lives – ideas about gay marriage, terrorism, wars, politics, economics, and more.
This idea can be carried over to other issues. Should the state make alcohol legal or illegal? Should the state make marijuana legal or illegal? Should the state ban or allow some certain food? Should they tell me what I can or can’t put into my body? Should they allow or ban abortions? Should the state allow me to say this or ban me from saying that? Should they force kids to learn this or that; to go to this or that school; or to go to school at all? Should they bomb that country a little, or a lot? How should the state “fix” the social security system? How much should they force businesses pay employees? Should the state recognize the marriage of two people? Throw out all of these! Take one principled stance: The government shouldn’t be involved with any of this – as well as many other things. People should be left free to voluntarily prosper. The government (or whatever type of framework we might have in the future for instituting rules and protecting property rights) should only step in when someone is actually violating and aggressing against another’s life or property in some way (theft, murder, rape, fraud, assault). We live in the age of the internet, nano-technology, 3D Printing, crypto-currencies, crowd funding. People can get by (actually thrive) with much less force, coercion, manipulation, control, and propaganda than they currently deal with.
The way most people approach popular issues reveals who they really are. It reveals that most liberals, conservatives, democrats, and republicans have more in common than we’re made to think. Its constantly ground into people how different these groups are because one supports this bill (the one that raises taxes by 3%) and the other is said to support this other bill (the one that raises taxes by 4%). The point is they’re all statists. They all believe in telling other people how they should live. They all believe in wars, state created myths of constant international dangers, and a huge national offense. They all believe in raising more “revenue” for the state. They all believe in passing more laws to control people’s behavior. They’re all for the same things when it comes down to it. Underlying their rhetoric, though they wouldn’t admit it, their philosophy and principles are quite the same. It is only a matter of degree or flavor, and how it is framed. To give the population the illusion of choice these myths have to be continued – that the parties are so different and that radical change happens every election if we vote that other guy in, that some given law will change things in some dramatic way; and that if only we elect the right crook everything will be great.
People should be for the market. People should reject government involvement in everything. They should realize they don’t need the state to make them moral. Why has it become solidified into the psyche of so many people that the only way to achieve some desirable end is by force, command, control, guns, laws, and by pitting some against others in these epic false battles of politics? The market will take care of these things. Imagine some guy chooses not to serve some certain group at his business – well its 2014, word will spread, and he will be ostracized. People will choose not to go to his business. And in turn he might be turned away from other businesses. See, the market teaches the world that we’re all after the same things. Our money and our drive to live productive, happy, successful lives is what we all have in common. The market will punish hate and bigotry – and reward innovation, quality, and equal treatment of all customers. The market is the great equalizer.
Its statist laws and regulations that keep people neatly segregated into little groups. You qualify for this; you don’t. This group can get this advantage, this group can’t. We, the state, say this group needs our “help”.
Become advocates of real equality. If there is a way to better serve people and turn a profit, it will be done. If there are two pizza joints in town, and one voluntarily installs wheelchair ramps, welcomes everybody, serves anyone; and the other discriminates, is selective about customers, etc – who do you think will succeed and who will fail? And its not just about money. That outcome will be a statement of the prevailing ideas – and slowly over time, without the force or coercion of government, but with the voluntary actions, profits, and ideas of individuals – the desired ends would be achieved.
As I started out saying, there are a set of things we are told are the important issues. Look at typical poll questions, watch the news, listen to politicians, ask your friends – you’ll hear the same things. And among them will be the “debate over gay marriage” – which as we’ve just discussed isn’t an issue. Don’t fit yourself into their little paradigm. There are things going on in the world that people should actually be outraged over. The Federal Reserve, other central banks, the IMF, and the largest global banks are literally ruining the world’s currencies (half of every transaction), stealing your money, funneling money to the well connected, and will eventually cause another depression. Your government is becoming increasingly violent and out of control at home – breaking down doors, shooting dogs, beating men to death, buying tanks, throwing people in jail left and right for nothing, and of course still practicing extortion on the side of the road. Your “defense” industry is meddling in the affairs of every country on the planet, covertly supporting “our” “enemies”, while spying on “allies”, smuggling drugs, starting revolutions, drone bombing weddings, and more. And most of that isn’t reported to you. Every public war since the Spanish American war has been started on false pretenses because war is the health of the state, as well as the health of the economy according to Keynesians. The FDA, pharmaceutical companies, industrial agriculture companies, Monsanto, and lobbyists make up a huge, corrupt revolving door operation that screws you, small farmers, and everyone else, everyday. Along with all the bad, there are great things happening as well that should garner more attention than the latest political battle – alternative energy research, graphene, alternative cancer research, real nutrition, the ability to avoid virtually all disease, innovations in voluntary societal organization, crypto-currency, non-traditional education, innovative employee-employer relationships, and more.
For thousands of years and in hundreds of different cultures people voluntarily figured out how to get married and live together. It is and always has been private, personal, family thing. When we really think about it, the idea that someone (straight or gay) should have to get permission from the government to do something that is simply a private bond of love – is just insane. What if you had to get a liscense to form other types of relationships – say another type of relationship where you spend lots of time with the person, go shopping with them, cook with them, eat with them, love them, cry with them – a best friend license. Its insane. So to come full circle people should be free to do what they want as long as they don’t violate the individual rights of others. Focus your advocacy in the right place – against the state and for voluntary relationships. Get marriages recognized – what does that even mean? Marriages shouldn’t need to be “recognized” by anyone. If I get married I’m married. Its a bond, promise, and relationship between the two people involved – and that should be it. Advocate for that.
Right now, if you’re on the side against gay marriage – try rethinking your position. See it from a principled perspective, and realize, maybe its not right to use force to dictate personal choices. And if you’re currently for gay marriage try re-evaluating who the enemy is. Try to look at things based on principles as well, to be applied evenly across the board – in this case the ideas of individual rights and voluntary human interaction. You don’t even have to be super pro-gay; I’m not really. But we should all be pro-individual rights, pro freedom, and trust in people to peacefully manage their own lives. You will see improvement in your life, your inner happiness, and in your own arguments – since you will no longer be for and against all kinds of things, each contradicting one another. Instead of either of the prescribed acceptable positions, throw out the old debates and be for the separation of state and private matters. Be for removing the state from meddling in your lives. Be for living peaceful lives with voluntary human action, and be against initiating force against others or clamoring for “lawmakers” to do it for you.
Some additional reading. And if you have any questions or comments about anything I referenced, let me know.
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