Republicans Push Big Government, Regulatory Controls

Master Bates

Big Government Republicans in the New Hampshire House have pushed through a measure that would impose controls on marriage to prevent same-sex couples from entering into legally recognized marriage contracts. In a vote of 11 to 6 the Judiciary Committee voted to take away marriages from gay couples only.

The bill was sponsor by Rep. David Bates (Republican, Homophobia). Master Bates insists that stripping people of rights is keeping with tradition. It sure is. So was slavery, beating wives, and exposing newborn infants until they died. This didn't prevent advocates of deregulation and individual rights from changing traditions. All decent classical liberals support equality of rights.

Governor John Lynch has rightfully said he would veto the new regulations, which means the bigots in the Republican will need a 2/3rds majority to win.



It should be noted that Rep. Bates is another bigoted member of the so-called Republican Liberty Caucus. The problem is that when conservative Republicans pretend to be libertarians they do such a shitty job of it they embarrass real libertarians everywhere.


Bates claims that the purpose of the regulations and restriction is because "New Hampshire has a unique, distinct and compelling interest in promoting stable and committed marital unions between opposite-sex couples so as to increase the likelihood that children will be born to and raised by both of their natural parents." Interesting. I would assume that they should then make divorce illegal as well as ban adoption.

If Master Bates really means what he says, then he can't stop with just targeting gay couples by banning their marriage contracts. He would logically have to go after all heterosexuals who are divorced, would need to prevent adoption, in fact, he would have to require that parents who are divorced be forced to marry again because of the "compelling state interest" he imagines. There was a time when advocates of liberty argued that individual rights was the prime compelling interest, but when you mix "liberty" with Republicans like Bates, individual rights to contract marriages goes out the window and the state's "compelling interest" comes first, freedom comes second.