The first rule of the philosophy of liberty is …

… You Own Yourself. [Boldfacing mine:]

While self-ownership may seem like a simple and self-evident concept, I believe that most Americans residing in the land of the free would become very uncomfortable when the full implications of self-ownership become evident. We know for example that many of our fellow Americans are Statists in one form or another and the premise of all Statists is that we are actually owned by the state and that all of our liberties and rights come from the state. They also believe that the product of our lives is first the property of the state and what the state chooses to give back to us then becomes ours.

The other group that completely rejects the concept of self-ownership is what I will call the moralists. Most of these people in the U.S. believe that they are Christian. In a country like Saudi Arabia they are Muslims. Either way they are convinced that whatever life choices that they have made for themselves is also good for their neighbors and seek to impose, through the force of government, that way of life on others. What I find so dangerous about these people is that they believe that their right to impose their morality on others comes not from a manmade philosophy, like Socialism or Fascism, but from God himself. Because of this aberrant belief, arguing with these folks takes on the equivalent, to them at least, of the appearance of arguing with God, and we all know only a fool would argue with God.

H/T Red State Virginia. Be sure to read the whole thing.

I’ve only recently started to learn about property rights in relation to liberty and free markets. But the instant I heard of the private property concept of ownership of self it struck me that it applies to gay equality. That’s because the procreation-based arguments against marriage equality assume you are not your own property but rather the property of the state and that the state regulates marriage in exchange for babies. However, it seems to me that government regulates marriage due to the number of property rights and types of agency (such as the powers to make healthcare decisions and post mortem funeral arrangements) associated both with marriage and divorce.

Thoughts, gentle readers?