Reply #7: I just had friends over last week who are having a child but not getting [View All]

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married because they think of marriage as a stigma.

They're crazy. But they're right that it's fucked up that our government imports spiritual and religious (quasi or otherwise) meaning in the determination of whether they can have certain rights (and duties).

If the government limited itself to a material conferring of rights, as they do when people form corporations or get drivers licenses, I have no doubt that this couple would register for those rights (especially if you could do it by internet).

And who benefits because they don't? Well, I suppose insurance companies do, and their employers do, because it makes their life more expensive, and shifts their money to third parties who are already rich.

And we, as liberals, should be articulating arguments about this issue that help everyone, including people like this, keep more of their money and power.