“Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%” — Thomas Jefferson
This comes to mind today with the Supreme Court decision to not hear the gay marriage issue. It opened the door to gay marriage in Nevada, despite our popularly voted state Constitution ban on such. Is it potentially freeing the 49% from the tyranny of the 51%? I think probably so. And I have no problem with the citing of the equal protection clause as justification.
Still, I find it interesting that no one is mentioning multiple marriage. After all, what if three women want to get married? Or two women and one man? Or two men and one woman? Surely that can also not be denied now – after all, don’t they also deserve the protection of the “equal protection” clause? It is only a matter of time. And don’t get me wrong, that’s not bad – that’s good.
That points out the fundamental libertarian belief that marriage is a contract between consenting adults, and it is none of government’s business. I hope we get to a point where we realize this, and things like filing joint tax returns either go away, or recognize plurality. Things like allowing ONE spouse on your insurance either go away or recognize plurality.
If you think about really what marriage ought to be, a family bond among consenting adults, involving a church if they so desire, or not… it’s none of government’s business to meddle in that at all, in any way shape or form. Whether it be one man & one woman, a gay couple, or a multi-couple.
I hope that we take the next evolutionary step and realize that, and remove anything having to do with marriage from any governmental body, including any preferential or detrimental use of government force thereto, including taxation.
Marriage is an inherently personal contract between consenting adults that may or may not involve religion, but it most certainly should not be *required* to involve the government, whether local, state, or federal.
What I fear is that when polygamists come forward and also demand equal protection, those supporters of “gay marriage” will recoil with horror using terms like “disgusting”, “reprehensible”, “no safe place for a child”, “abusive”, “bestiality”, “pornographic”, and so forth, which would of course be completely intolerant and highly ironic since those same arguments have been used to attempt to block the liberties of the gay rights movement for decades. I hope my fears are unfounded, and that gay rights advocates truly are for liberty for ALL minorities, not just their own.
Best case for all: get government out of marriage! Then you marry whoever you want however you want.