Mystery:Why isn't gay marriage a civil rights issue
Mystery: Why Isn't Gay Marriage A Civil Rights Issue?
I had a debate with a friend of mine today, with him being for gay marriage and I being against it. But he raised a particular point that I find intriguing and was unable to properly address.
Conservatism rests on the following four pillars:
- Personal freedom. Liberty, equality, the right to vote. Freedom and the right to use it.
- Freedom from the government. Freedom from oppression, from heavy handed government meddling, and the state's interference in our personal lives.
- Freedom to conduct business. Freedom to invest money, start practices, allow the market to do its work.
- Security of the union. Freedom to move from state to state, to drive across the nation without issue, and to leave and return.
These are the four pillars of conservative thought. The issue of gay marriage is irrelevant to #3 and #4, relating only to #1 and #2.
We allow people to smoke, which is objectively harmful. We allow people to drop out of school, which is objectively harmful. We allow people to make choices, because freedom is about making the choice you want to make.
Why do we allow the government to step in and tell us who we can and cannot marry? If I want to marry three women, isn't it none of the state's business if I do? Isn't that an issue of #1 and #2 -- personal freedom and liberty, and freedom from the state imposing its rules upon us?
So therefore, shouldn't conservative thought be to support gay marriage as a way of stopping the encroachment of the government on our liberties? Why does mainstream conservative thought oppose this?