Approximately 20 years ago—I don’t remember what triggered it—but I wanted to write a book about American culture. I decided the working title would be The End of Heterosexuality. It was becoming obvious to me at the time that sexual identity and sexual orientation were entering a new phase in America.
And here we are. In the past two decades the percentage of college students who identify members of the LGBTQ community has risen markedly. Is this a random occurrence? Or is there a more concerted effort to change the culture of America? To ask the question is to answer it.
Changing American culture—social, economic, and political—is the goal of individuals who have embraced Marxist ideology. This ideology wants to replace the nuclear family with the State. The State, in their view, is the new god, instead of a market economy, which is based on private property and voluntary exchange. A communist economy would, as the argument goes, eliminate scarcity and usher in an era superabundance and the end of poverty, inequality, and “greed.”
In addition, gender identify and sexual orientation are the latest elements of the cultural Marxists agenda. Anyone who criticizes alternate lifestyles and transgenderism is branded a hateful enemy of diversity and deserves to be cancelled by cultural Marxists.
Nevertheless, what consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedrooms is not the government’s business. Period.
However, a male who dresses as a woman with an outrageous outfit, or wants to join a college sorority, or compete in women sports, should not be “protected” by civil rights legislation or activist judges.
Author and libertarian policy analyst Lawrence Vance sums up the proper economic and social relationships in a society based on freedom of conscience, freedom of association, and decorum. Although Vance focuses on transgender individuals, his proposal can be applied to anyone—straight, gay, bisexual, etc. In other words, a free and peaceful and free society should be based on a simple proposition, “Live and let live.” No coercion can be used in the pursuit of anyone’s happiness.
So, to trans individuals, libertarianism says—
You have no right to be accepted.
You have no right to read books to children in public libraries.
You have no right to be liked.
You have no right to use locker rooms of the opposite sex.
You have no right to not be ridiculed.
You have no right to have a third gender on your passport.
You have no right to change the gender on your birth certificate.
You have no right to not be made fun of.
You have no right to compel people to call you or not call you by specific pronouns.
You have no right to be protected from discrimination.
You have no right to not be the butt of jokes.
You have no right to a job.
You have no right to use restrooms of the opposite sex.
You have no right to be served in a restaurant or store.
You have no right to have sexual orientation and gender identity added to the Civil Rights Act.
You have no right to taxpayer dollars to pay for hormone treatments or body alterations.
You have no right to play on sports teams of the opposite sex.
You have no right to enter a single-sex competition if you are of the opposite sex.
You have no right to exclusively play trans individuals in movies and on television shows.
You have no right to be incarcerated in a jail or prison for the opposite sex.
You have no right for health insurance companies to cover sex change operations.
You have no right to force anyone to accept that gender dysphoria is a medical disorder instead of a mental disorder.
Why shouldn’t trans people have these rights? Because no one should have these rights. Everyone should have basic human rights. There should be no special trans rights, gay rights, women’s rights, minority rights, etc.
The battle lines have been drawn in the culture wars. How this will play out will determine the future of the nuclear family, the birth rate, and the future of America.
My latest piece on the economy was published in Fortune, https://fortune.com/2023/03/27/recession-2023-layoffs-tech-finance-unemployment-outlook-fed-rates-murray-sabrin/ This is an update of my 2021 forecast, https://fortune.com/2021/12/09/next-recession-heres-everything-bubble-markets-2021-2022-covid-murray-sabrin/
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Murray Sabrin, PhD, is emeritus professor of finance, Ramapo College of New Jersey. Dr. Sabrin is considered a “public intellectual” for writing about the economy in scholarly and popular publications. His new book, The Finance of Health Care: Wellness and Innovative Approaches to Employee Medical Insurance (Business Expert Press, Oct. 24, 2022), and his other BEP publication, Navigating the Boom/Bust Cycle: An Entrepreneur’s Survival Guide (October 2021), provides decision makers with tools needed to help manage their businesses during the business cycle. Sabrin's autobiography, From Immigrant to Public Intellectual: An American Story, was published in November, 2022.