Before I get into my elaboration of my personal feelings on the matter, let me say up front that I'm against the outlawing of gay marriage. It's not right to force anyone to do anything or to forcibly prevent him from doing anything, as long as he's not hurting or threatening anyone else or violating anyone's individual unalienable rights. It's wrong for me to use force, to initiate it, even if I'm right. Force is for defense only. I'll go on to vigorously argue against gay marriage, but those are personal feelings of mine. And I have no right to enforce them on anyone, even if I feel I'm preventing him from hurting himself.
While we're on the subject. I don't need the govt's or anyone's license, sanction or permission to get married. Or, more accurately, I shouldn't need it. But the truth is, we, in our apathy, have allowed the govt to not only require us to get their permission, they also charge us money for it.
Now, I know it's hard to get your head around a concept that flies in the face of your lifetime of experience. But imagine. You're in a public place. And you're in the very act of dropping to one knee to ask your sweetheart's hand. And some random guy approaches and says, "Wait. No. Were you about to propose? No. You can't do that. I haven't given you permission."
Here's the tough concept I mentioned: Look, I know it's a random dude in my hypothetical example and in real life it's the govt. But how is that really different? The govt is literally made up of average, random dudes. How did they get the power and authority they have? Based on what criteria of merit? They're just like us. The vast majority are appointed or hired bureaucrats and the rest are politicians, hired by us. We're their bosses. We're sovereign (read: kings and queens) citizens. They're absolutely our underlings. Yet they have all of the power. Do you begin to see what's happened as you slumbered at the switch? We've all been asleep. Well, some of us are awake. And it's time the rest of you roused yourselves before it's too late.
You don't need; I don't need anyone's permission or license to do anything. As long as all parties to the thing I'm doing are voluntary, it's no one else's business. Look, no one needs you to protect him. Just as you're able to cruise through life making competent decisions, even making mistakes and failing sometimes. You recover and learn. You're capable; competent. Well, get this, so is everyone else. Stay out of it! Shut your yap and live your own life. Don't try to intervene and forcibly keep me from doing what I want if it's not hurting you.
There are various kinds of other licenses required by the govt. A classic example of this is the requirement that I, as a drywall contractor, be licensed by the govt. Now, I know you assume that all of my potential customers are stupid and that they must be protected from that stupidity and from me by the govt. Do I have that about right? You might not put it into those terms, but that's it, in a nutshell. Well, guess what. I've served 100s of happy customers over the years with only 1 or 2 complaints. And I've never been licensed. I refuse to obtain unneeded permission. My customers are competent enough to decide whether to hire me and whether I've done a good job. Beyond my lack of a contractor's license, I even let my business license expire, years ago. I got tired of paying the fee.
Anyway, the point is, no one got hurt from my lack of license. And in fact, I'm sure there are cases where some customer has been wronged by a bad contractor who WAS licensed. Stuff happens. You win some, you lose some. When you abdicate your personal responsibility and rely on someone else to do what you should do yourself, you're going to get burned.
Um. Let's see. Did the govt ever license a marriage that failed to work out and even hurt those who undertook it? Not to mention surgeries gone bad performed by licensed doctors, etc. Why was the govt not sued for its sanctioning of such a painful failure? The truth is, no one can guarantee security. Take hold of your freedom and the responsibility that goes with it and make your decisions. Make your mistakes. No one can save you from them. And they're very educational.
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