Is it normal to think the government should be uninvolved in marriage?

All this brouhaha over legalizing gay marriage has me thinking, why is marriage the government's business in the first place? It should be deregulated completely. If people want to be in a relationship, they should do whatever they want and there's no reason the state should ever have to be told about it. People who still cling to the concept of marriage can get a ceremony and certificate from a church or whatever, but there's no reason it should ever have to be registered with the government.

"But what about marriage benefits?"

What about them? Get rid of them. All the government assistance benefits marriage grants should be folded into general welfare. Giving people larger benefits under assistance programs just because they got hitched is completely arbitrary. The only thing that should ever be a factor in government assistance is how much help someone needs. Take all that money going to well-off couples and spend it on homeless singles. Things like joint financial actions can be granted by loosening association laws and letting people do joint whatever with whoever they want. Every legal marriage benefit could be granted just by letting people define their own relationships and giving them control over their own legal connections to others.

The best way to deal with an obstacle is to go around it, not through it. This issue is only complicated because people make it more complicated than it has to be.

Voting Results
83% Normal
Based on 24 votes (20 yes)
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Comments ( 11 )
  • Who_Fan4Life

    The whole thing is hypocritical to me, and to a large extent I agree with you.

    Funny how the government doesn't give two shits when two people from the same gender date, have sex etc...but once they put that ring on the finger...''no, no, no...''

    The reason gay marriage is opposed in some states and definitely some nations where there is high government control over everything, is because of religion. I'm gonna take a ''wild'' guess and say that the government just assumes everyone is a Christian and believes in straight, heterosexual marriage. Well, that, for a fact is not true. In America today, a large percentage of the population doesn't even believe in any religion and today, more than ever is the country becoming morel liberalized on social issues. To be honest, it's not about social issues, it's about basic HUMAN RIGHTS.

    That's why I hope in my lifetime gay marriage just becomes legal for everyone because I believe a government should NOT tell people what to do, because a majority of the population deems it wrong, all because of religion to boot!

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  • iinotnormal

    Gays shouldn't be able to call it marriage....it is a "civil union", you can have all the "marriage" benefits you want. Marriage isn't defined by government, it was defined in church by religion. It has nothing to do with government. If the government wants people to get a license to prove they are under a certain tax law, or able to have certain "rights" to each other's property, call it what it is, a legal union. But, marriage is something defined in religion. Nothing against gays, but, I don't find many of them to be real religious zealots. Maybe I just don't know too many of them. Most I know are rather agnostic, and, perhaps that is because they felt ostracized by their church for so long.

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  • Anonnet

    I was about to post a question similar to this before I opted to search for it first.

    There wouldn't even be a religious debate if the government wasn't involved. Far less people in general would be interested in doing it, and it would turn into a purely religious ceremony. There would be no need to protest the church for gay marriage, since there would be some other church that would marry them. The whole thing would be a non-issue.

    I don't think it will ever happen because the idea of it is too entrenched in our heads and people aren't willing to change.

    I consider myself a Christian, and I believe that the one thing ruining marriage is the legal recognition.

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  • Gspyder

    For the idea of gay adults, yes. It shouldn't be the governments decision wether one adult can marry another whom they love. I absolutely think there should be laws on age, incest, and other things like that though.

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  • LiveForToday,LiveForTommorow

    Yes. I think the same. Marriage should be about 2 partners and between 2 partners (regardless of their genders). No one else.

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    • Hoppy2142

      A penis does not go into a penis to make a baby. A penis goes into a vagina to make a baby. Makes sense right, but yet everybody wants dicks up their ass and vagina in their vagina.

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  • thr

    I agree with you on the arbitrariness of marriage, i.e., that government-validated marriage is something that can be questioned and is man-made rather than written into a set of rules for the world.

    Some time ago, I looked up 'marriage' in a dictionary, and there it said that marriage was recognised by someone/something else. That could be government, church or community. If marriage is that rather than just two people deciding to be involved with each other, then it seems less arbitrary that the government or state is involved.

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  • thegypsysailor

    I think you misunderstand where the resistance to gay marriage comes from.
    First and foremost, it is once again, the almighty dollar rearing it's ugly head. Companies and the government don't want to ever spend a nickle more than they have to on people. They don't want things like retirement benefits, insurance coverage or tax breaks to include any more people than they already do. Denying gay marriage is much more about money than the few ignoramuses who are prejudiced against gays.

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    • ViolenceAgainstTheState

      You think resistance to gay marriage is financial and only financial?

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      • thegypsysailor

        Politically, primarily, yes. The companies support politicians. The politicians in turn support any group (in this case anti gay groups) that will advance the agenda that the companies that support the politician, are paying that politician to support. The added influx of capital to the anti gay group (religious?) gives them the means of campaigning against the gays, which helps the politician, because it seems he has much more support than he actually does. With the media bought and paid for by these same companies, the the politician now has an even larger voice to pass through the agenda of those very same companies.
        Hey, it's a shitty system, but it's all we've got until people stand up to these companies (and deny them equal rights) and demand that the politicians honor their constituent's support.
        Sorry, I hope that makes sense.

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    • Couman

      I don't think that's necessarily true, but supposing it is, wouldn't those same companise be delighted to do away with legally recognzed marriage completely?

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