My Appearance in The Arena. Topic: Marriage Licensing

In The Arena at FEE.Org, I argued that marriage is a right that should not be licensed.

Marriage has every trapping of a right, and rights should not be subject to licensing. This basic position seems to evaporate into emotion when the topic turns to marriage. But whether it’s styling hair, making coffins or calling your relationship with another person a marriage, no level of government should be licensing these activities to begin with.

It helps to distinguish between a marriage and a marriage license. To statists, this might not matter: Marriage is whatever the State says it is. To the rest of us, the distinction is meaningful. Marriage licenses—slips of fidelity paper—unlock a flow of government benefits and privileges that should not be disbursed at all, let alone disbursed only to a select few.

My opponent, Richard Lorenc, who is the Director of Programs & Alumni Relations at the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), argued otherwise.  See both and vote here!

Ⓐ Steve Ⓐ