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Honolulu Lite Charles Memminger |
Government should
divorce from marriageThe Hawaii Legislature's recent rather strange, quick toe-dip back into the same-sex marriage bog, along with the puzzling street theater gay unions running rampant in San Francisco, once again illustrate why government should not be in the marriage business.
Government -- any government, from an omnipotent tribal chief riding herd on a couple of mud huts of miserable citizens to a continent-size superbureaucracy riding herd on millions of miserable taxpayers -- loves to regulate stuff. The regulation, for the most part, is well-intentioned. It's good when everyone drives on the same side of the road or that the guy in the mud hut next door can't take your goat simply because he's bigger than you. Without a certain amount of regulation, backed up by the rule of law and a well-armed police force, you can imagine that the world would be a wild and exceedingly unpleasant place. Well, you don't have to imagine. All you have to do is look at Haiti or Liberia to see what a fun house life would be without some sensible rules.
But that doesn't mean government has to regulate everything. And marriage is one of those things government should just stay the hell out of. If it did, the whole same-sex marriage battle would go away.
MARRIAGE IS A common-law matter, a cultural and/or religious contract between consenting adults. To those who say that legally, marriage means a union of one man and one woman, I point out that marriage also means the couple is united "for life." By that definition, there are very few real "marriages" out there. Heterosexuals aren't doing so hot in that "married for life" deal.
Without government intervention, any consenting adults could "marry," have a "civil union" or simply "hang out for a while" according to the religious or cultural authority they recognize. If two guys want to say they are married, big deal. What does it have to do with you?
The key to taking government out of marriage is for government to treat everyone as single, individual, adult citizens. Taxes, pensions, Social Security, medical benefits ... whatever ... should have nothing to do with anyone's marital status. Government doesn't have an obligation to promote marriage because, if it did, it would be doing a better job of it. With half of marriages failing and therefore not actually being legal marriages after all, the idea that government "supports" marriage between a man and a woman is a hoot.
Government shouldn't be giving any special breaks to any select group, whether it's married heterosexuals, blacks, whites, gays, retirees or corporate fat cats.
Government should not recognize same-sex marriages. Government should not recognize heterosexual marriages. Government should not be in the recognition game. It should just treat every individual fairly and equally and let common law handle the personal details.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Charles Memminger, winner of National Society of Newspaper Columnists awards, appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. E-mail cmemminger@starbulletin.com
