Right on the Money: Doug Casey on Economics, Investing, and the Ways of the Real World with Louis James

Chapter 30

Doug Casey on Gay Marriage

June 30, 2011

Louis: So, what’s on your mind this week?

Doug: Another subject likely to piss off a fair number of our readers: gay marriage. New York just became the sixth state to legalize same-sex marriages and will begin issuing licenses next month. Some people have asked if I think this is good or bad. My view is that marriage is a contract between two people, so I don’t see why the state should have any involvement in the matter at all. A marriage needs the state like a fish needs a bicycle.

L: A good anarchist answer, but in today’s world people involve the state in enforcing their contracts all the time. So it matters to them if they want to enter into this particular type of contract and the state won’t recognize it.

D: Yes, that’s likely the real issue here. It’s not so much about being able to love and live with whomever you want—a man and a man, a woman and a woman, or for that matter, any number of men and women together—but about benefits, particularly those administered by the state. A lot of people want spousal social security benefits, for instance. Fortunately, over the last 50 years, most laws about cohabitation, sodomy, adultery, and such have been either overturned or rendered dead letters and unenforceable. So now it’s mainly a question of gaining legal recognition of a relationship for the purpose of benefits.

L: Assuming that’s correct, is there any reason such people should not have the same benefits others get? If your ...