Libertarians gone wild

At Iowa's First Congressional District Convention, the delegates went and did a very silly thing.

Sparked by the "Liberty Movement," they passed a platform plank that says that government has no business regulating marriage.

Huh?

So it should be legal to marry a five year old? Your brother or sister? Your dog? The living room sofa? The local fire department? If government has no business regulating marriage, what in the world does it have business doing?

I know. Some on the extreme Right will reply with the non sequitur that since the Constitution enumerates certain powers and/or responsibilities,  at least the Federal government can't constitutionally do other things- which is like saying that if it's legal for you to scratch your arm, you can't scratch your leg without specific Constitutional permission (what part of "promote the general welfare" don't they understand?). But what about state governments, which are the ones which regulate marriage at present? How is regulating marriage not their legitimate concern?

Unless you want to marry your five year-old sister's sofa.

Predictably, the Left is having a field day with the plank, claiming that it shows that opposition to same-sex "marriage" is waning in the Republican party. Predictably,  the leftist Des Moines Register  took that tack. Also predictably, Republicans from all over the state are responding that, in the words of one 1st District delegate, "If the Party changes its position on marriage, I'll leave it so fast that (Gov.) Terry Brandstads's head will spin."

No danger of that happening. The "Liberty Movement" caught traditional Republicans napping in 2012 and took over the state party machinery. The Republican wing of the Republican party is aiming to take the party back this year. What makes the First District plank odd is that traditional Republicans have a majority there.

No,  I don't think the state party will change its opposition to same-sex "marriage" any time soon. But I do wonder what the delegates to the First District convention were smoking.