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This is an entirely money-centric view of things. This is like saying going to a movie is a bad deal because you spent $15, 2 hours of time, and ended up with n
by ericd 16y ago
This is an entirely money-centric view of things. This is like saying going to a movie is a bad deal because you spent $15, 2 hours of time, and ended up with nothing financially useful at the end. Marriages are not usually primarily financial contracts, VC contracts primarily are.
Money is an abstraction, a means to an end, not the end. For many (most?) people, that intended end is a happy, healthy, safe family, which is hard to do without marriage.
- gaius 16y agoWell, that's not really true. Any two people, remember can hold any ceremony they want in front of their friends, call themselves whatever they want, live together, have kids, whatever. Marriage however is very specifically a contract between two individuals and the State. You get a marriage license and you file the paperwork at City Hall. The State's interest is obvious: it wants new, well-adjusted citizens. So the contract says, we'll give you these privileges (in tax, immigration, etc) and you do your bit. Part of that is, all property becomes the property of the new entity. So yeah, the only difference between "getting married" and doing it yourself is the contract.
- ericd 16y agoStrictly legally speaking, sure, but marriage is much more than a legal contract in reality. The ceremony, living together, commitment etc. is most of the definition of marriage. That activity your describing has been called marriage for thousands of years, with or without legal components, and just because some people are doing it now without making it legally binding doesn't make it something fundamentally different from marriage.