So off-message Olly got himself sacked for being off-message. I would normally applaud such a thing, but the self proclaimed Anarchist has missed an opportunity to further the cause of Anarchism.

I am not an Anarchist and I haven’t delved into the literature about anarchic marriage, but I am planning to get married. It seems to me that in an Anarchy – meaning “no rulers” – there would be multiple competing private, religious or mutual services that would register and facilitate marriage; the role of centralised democracy in the bedroom being one of the first things to be thrown out on the way to an anarchic order. The advantage of competition in marriage is that people are varied, and relationships incredibly complex. Competing institutions would allow greater choice and personalisation in the arrangements at every stage. That would allow diversity in participation, ceremony design, wedding venues, in divorces, and in a much broader range of services too, such as welfare benefits that recognise your particular kind of marriage. Hell, its even possible that religion – currently banned from non-church weddings – would take part in the process more often.

If it was me staring down the barrel of a party chairman I would not call his bluff to defend Cameron’s take. Cameron wants the state to licence gay marriage – as if anyone needed permission to commit to each other. He also wants the state to register their existence, conduct ceremonies, decide what benefits accrue (and confiscate funding for them), what happens at divorce etc. Most importantly, the continued existence of one official way of being married would continue to cause the most personal of matters to be squeezed into a one size fits all arrangement. It’s a liberal fudge, increasing freedom without letting go of the means of control.

In the meantime Olly, I know that the real situation behind your sacking is really rather murky. In particular, the way the election was suspended after the counting of votes, and the fact you won with 62% of them. I disagree with your stand, but admire your guts, and if you want to use this platform to shine some light on issues at UKIP then you are more than welcome.

Update: a friend of Olly’s writes “Olly most definitely does believe in taking the state out of marriage altogether”. Awesome. It is a shame though that the media have been talking about his support of “equal” marriage, not “privatised” marriage. Missed opportunity 😦