Clint Eastwood may have garnered some negative press–or at the very least, sarcastic press–when he spoke candidly to an empty chair at the RNC, but his views on gay marriage are beginning to redeem him in the eyes of the Dems. Eastwood visited “Ellen” recently and opened up about why he thinks we should just leave everyone alone.

“The condition of society right now, with the high unemployment rates and the tremendous debt we’re increasing and the government spending, we’d think there’d be [many more worthy issues] to think about [rather] that worrying about gay marriage,” he said, explaining that his views are Libertarian.

“You’re socially liberal, leave everybody alone, but you believe in fiscal responsibility and you believe in government staying out of your life,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Eastwood has spoken up about his belief that everyone should be allowed to be happy; he was quoted last year in GQ Magazine as saying he “doesn’t give a f*ck” about who marries whom, adding that everyone is making too big a deal about it.