A question for my libertarian friends who think legalizing same-sex marriage is problematic because it extends the state’s involvement in the institution:

Suppose everyone paid taxes to Social Security but benefits were only available to white folks, leading to someone proposing to make benefits also available to non-whites. Would you argue that was wrong? Would you argue it was bad because it was extending the state’s involvement in retirement decisions? Would you just keep saying that the state should be out of the retirement business? Would you go that far in letting the perfect be the enemy of the better?

With the modern libertarian movement so focused on the size of the state, it often forgets that classical liberalism is also committed to equality under the law, and, arguably, was committed to that before the focus on limiting the state. After all, the 19th century classical liberals were anti-slavery, anti-racist, and part of the first wave of feminism.

I’ll have more on this at my Freeman Online column on Thursday morning.

UPDATE: That article is online now here.