by Tom Shaheen
It’s widely reported that President Obama now says he supports re-defining marriage as we know it, to allow two men or two women to use the societal stamp of approval that we call Marriage. Trouble is, it’s more than just a stamp of approval. It would be a radical change in the way that we as a society, carried out by our government at all levels, treat marriage and the more than 1,000 laws and regulations that go with it. It would change the way we treat marriages, divorces, spouses, children, taxes, contracts, inheritance, health care, privacy laws, lawsuits, housing, rentals, employers and employees, churches, youth groups, ministries, parent-teacher associations, public and private schools, and the list goes on. And don’t forget that once something is legal, then the heavy hand (or hammer!) of government is designed to mandate/force/punish/coerce to enforce the new rules.
Still think government should or could “get out of the marriage business” by legalizing so-called same-sex marriage?
Read more:
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/04/5071
When I say I would like to get government out of marriage, I mean to get them O.U.T. Why should anyone, gay or straight, have to ask for government’s permission to be married to someone? They need to figure out a way to stop “approving” marriage. No government certificates. No marriage penalties or perks. Privatize it. That’s what people usually mean when they say “Get government out of marriage.” And you know, if 1,000 laws were null and void as a result of getting government out of marriage, then we are way better off.
It is simply not possible to have a low-impact government in a society with no social or legal norms about family structure, sexual behavior, and childrearing. The state will have to provide support for people with loose or non-existent ties to their families. So, in the long run, a free society needs marriage.