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Subject: There is no such think as marriage in
America
The idea that
all people should be treated equal is a sound starting point for a
discussion
about same sex marriage. Everyone should be treated equally. But there
is no such thing as
marriage and what the states pass off as marriage isn't marriage at
all. It's just a really bad
property contract between two people and the government.
We are arguing about the definition of marriage as to sexual
orientation, but we forget that
marriage was also supposed to be about a lifelong commitment. But with
no-fault divorce
that went away and was replaced with a lifelong contract with the
government over your
income and property. In California for example, if you are married
longer that 10 years and
one person makes more than the other then the person who makes more has
to pay spousal
support to the other for the rest of their lives. Divorce courts punish
good behavior and reward
bad behavior. "Till death do us part" means absolutely nothing to the
courts. If your spouse is
in jail, you're going to have to pay him/her alimony.
Marriage is also a bad one size fits all contract that was designed for
heterosexual virgin teenagers
starting life together and applies those rules to all groups. So if
grandma dies and grandpa marries
a 20 year old then she, as wife, is first in line to make medical and
financial decisions over his
adult children. That's just plain wrong. Marriage at 70 is not the same
as marriage at 18 and
should not be treated as such.
In the case same sex partners, men and women are different. Two men
marrying is not the same
as two women marrying or a woman and man marrying who can have children
as opposed to man
and woman marrying who can't. Relationships with children, including
same sex adoptions, are
different than those without. Yep all we have is a one size fits all
option.
Half of all marriages end in divorce. The other half end in
death. The entire system is broken and
needs to be replaced. If the state is going to treat marriage as a
temporary property contract then it
should be set up that way from the beginning. Or alternatively we
should just phase out marriage
altogether in favor of customizable civil unions where the terms of the
agreement are spelled out
in advance so that the two people joining can create the kind of union
that applies to them.
What we have now is broken and neither straight or gays
would want it if they knew what they were getting into.
Marc Perkel