| </span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (Leopard,)
government involvement is practical?
what exactly changes when you as a citizen of the US, decideds to form a legal contractual relationship with another person? As a citizen, you are taxed - isn't it dscrimination or at the very least an attempt at social manipulation to treat people differently based on their social status (ie: single vs married).
what are these practical things that the government must do or know about when it comes to marriage?
michael<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>
There are a number of practical things: helping to establish responsibility for the raising of children; helping to establish responsibility of one citizen for another; helping to determine the ownership of property; and helping to reasonably adjust taxation to account for differences in costs of living entailed by living situation; trying to ensure one of the forms of social stability. Tbose are a few. Marriage is not a panacea for any of those. But many of us who rejected many of the traditional bases for 'believing in' it have still found it useful enough to undertake in our personal lives. But I do not begrudge those who choose to conduct their relationships with their significant others without recourse to marriage; and as you note, marriage can certainly be used as a basis for social manipulation: witness those trying to define it in the U.S. Constitution as solely available to heterosexual relationships. The real issue about gay marriage is that so many gays want access to the relationship, alhtough others may not want to marry but are understandably outraged at being denied a choice in the matter. |