Monday, December 31, 2007

Same-Sex Marriage and Open Borders

In this week's Libertarian Enterprise I encountered this letter. I think I have read this guy's words before . I recognize his style and his issues. (He may get an ego boost from that admission) If you go through his posts there, you will see how obsessed he is over certain concepts and terms. In particular, he likes to call us "libertine/libertarians" as if he thinks this is a clever insult.

His main "arguments" in the new letter are that the Libertarian Party (and libertarians in general) endorse same-sex marriage and open borders. He then explains how he is more in line with the Constitution Party because it simply wants the US to return to Constitutional government. That's funny. I don't remember the Constitution defining "marriage" anywhere, or giving government the authority to regulate personal love-lives. That leaves his love of "Berlin walls" as his sticking point.

Compared with the current US government's immigration policy, the Constitution does call for open borders. Where does the Constitution establish the current police-state road blocks (often many miles from any border), vehicle searches, national ID papers, etc.? All those things are necessary to enforce "secure" borders like he wants.

If freedom is important to you, you must realize that it is a two-way street. You must give the other guy the same liberty you want for yourself. How is it "libertine" of us to recognize everyone's right to live as they see fit, as long as they hurt no one else? How can you say that you have a right to live free, but your neighbor needs to be controlled? How is it good to give government control over things that are not within its authority?

Freedom is for everyone. If you wish to embrace control and tyranny, don't get angry at those of us who want liberty. If that makes us "libertines" in your myopic eyes, so be it.

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