Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik comes correct on the issue of big government marriage amendments:
Government involvement in marriage had an ugly beginning, Badnarik noted.
“The only reason that marriage licenses even exist is that state and local governments once mandated them as a way to enforce laws against interracial marriage,” he said. “In other times and places, marriage licenses were denied to interracial or other politically incorrect couples, just as they can be denied to gay couples today.”
Precisely. In 1967, in the very state I live, it was still illegal for me to be married to the woman with which I’ve spent the last 11 years of my life. (See Loving v. Virginia for more information.) These big government conservatives running around screaming bloody murder over gay marriage have forgotten why government got involved in this so-called institution in the first place. Contrary to the theocratic mandate crowd, there is absolutely no Constitutional authority for government involvement in marriage decisions. If God wants to stop gay marriage, he has plenty of resources at His disposal. He doesn’t need Bill Frist and his goon squad to employ government thugs in enforcement of His wishes. Further, these advocates of big government social reforms like “defining marriage” are willfully confusing their right to disagree with their right to force their own theocratic beliefs on others. The Bill Frists and Paul Weyrichs of today are just continuing the fascist theocratic causes of centuries past. Disagree with homosexuality or gay marriage all you want, but as soon as you use government force to accomplish your goals you’ve become a bona fide statist, advocate of big government and an enemy of freedom.