Rand son of Ron thinks he's very clever for calling for an end to all state-sanctioned marriage rather than just gay marriage, but what he says here is remarkably stupid.
When Rand was asked about the Kentucky court clerk who has refused to issue a gay marriage license, Rand said the government should get out of the business of marriage.
"I think one way to get around the whole idea of what the Supreme Court is forcing on the states is for states just to get out of the business of giving out licenses," Paul said. "Alabama has already voted to do this, they’re just no longer going to give out licenses. And anybody can make a contract. And then if you want a marriage contract you go to a church. And so I’ve often said we could have gotten around all of this also in the sense that I do believe everybody has a right to a contract."
This is the dumbest shit.
Marriage is not just an emotional agreement or pact between two people; it's a legal contract with legal consequences. A marriage can dictate everything from tax rates to hospital visitation rights, to inheritance and right to counsel.
These are not things a church or just "anybody" can dictate without state recognition. And, for fuck's sake, if a church were allowed to decide such things we may return to a time when same-sex couples were not allowed to visit their sick loved ones or receive the pension or benefits owed to the family of a deceased spouse.
Is Rand suggesting the free market will take care of these dilemmas? What would stop someone from forming a church where you actually can marry your lawnmower as Steve King recently predicted?
How would the federal government dispense rights and benefits owed to federal employees or military service members if their marriages are not officially recognized?
I may or may not have descended into a everlasting run-on sentence of expletives invariably consisting of a four letter word as I read Rand's words, you stupid bastard. This is the essence of libertarianism; privileged access to rights. No guarantees.
This only became a thing after the Supreme Court ruled that gay couples have the same constitutional rights as everyone else. This wasn't a cause before now. Because libertarian means I got my liberty and fuck you. Get your own liberty.