My marriage

So my marriage is pretty good, I think. There are some bad parts, and it's a lot more work than I'd ever expected. But you know what would make it way better? If anybody who wanted to get married could get married. That would be super-nice. I'm taking an economics class this term, and some very helpful terms I've learned recently (while desperately cramming for a midterm) are "nonrival good" and "nonexcludable good." These are "goods" that you can use without reducing the amount available to other people and without preventing anybody else from using them. Like breathing air, or watching TV, or ... hmm... getting married. Marriage is, in my opinion, a nonrival, nonexcludable public good. And hey, isn't it better to have more love in circulation? Isn't marriage terrific for our economy? Couldn't the economy use a little help?

So I'm kind of mystified by the "defense of marriage" line of reasoning. If your marriage is vulnerable enough to be shaken by the marriages of two people of the same gender, I think you should go see a marriage counselor (and it would be good for the economy, too!). I don't think you should waste my time with your vicious, stupid, economically inefficient ballot initiatives.