On Marriage

I'm getting ready for vacation. I am off to WIFCON out in Lansing, MI for 9 days of gaming. Yes, I am a wargamer geek. I've gone before and it is fun and challenging at the same time. Due to domestic and logistical issues the local group has been unable to play, so I am a bit rusty.

I'm going to try to post from the con, we shall see how that goes.

Anyway, I wanted to collect my thoughts on marriage and a few other things from my earlier post.

See I don't really care who marries who, as long as they are of consenting age. Marriage is a cultural and religious ceremony. Despite the terrible divorces I've witnessed in my family and friends, I still think it's a good thing.

Now from the state side of things, marriage should be pretty much irrelevant. Yeah you read it right. No tax breaks, no insurance for the spouse) zip, nada, nothing.

There are a few reasons for this position I'd like to go over.

1) In our current society, I am penalized for being single. If you give one group a benefit, then the other group gets penalized by omission. Why should I pay higher taxes?

The assumption is that the wife stays home while the husband works. This model is simply a way of re-routing the dependency so everyone can feel good. The truth of this model is since the wife wasn't working, why shouldn't the breadwinner claim her as a dependant on his taxes?

2) Society is evolving and changing. Fifty years ago polyamory wasn't on the cultural radar. It was there, but way, way out in the fringes. Now how does an insurance company insure a workers 4 spouses? Wouldn't that bump up the rates for everyone, single, monogamous relationship, etc?

Even the simple problem of who can pick the kids up from school is an issue. Can husband C pick up wife A and husband B's kid from school if the student feels sick?

3) The State has no right into my bedroom. If I want to be hog-tied and smothered in pepto-bismal while wearing a Don Knots mask while I get spanked by a Democrat - that is my own business and no one else's, as long as both parties are consensual.

4) The State has no right to tell me who I can have a relationship as long as everyone is an adult. The one place the State has in the marriage is with blood relatives. There is untold amounts of documented proof that marrying your sister is a bad idea. There are whole communities where this crap has been going on. One I have seen with my own two eyes is in Wareham. It's a trailer park we called "pinkeye village" because of the rampant Albinism. What if it was a more sever genetic disorder? Why damn your children to that?

5) Let's get real unconventional. In the very near future, you will be able to buy or rent a "love robot." When AI gets here in the next 50 years, that robot could be controlled by another sentient life form. Can I marry it?

The conservative mantra of "family values" is shouted from most rooftops when dealing with marriage. How can these people have any idea what my family values are? People should worry about teaching these values to their children, not forcing them on other people. Lead by example.

Businesses will need to change their benefits packages, and insurance companies will need to re-think how they insure their customers. In the end I don't see it costing any more than it does now.