You also need to factor in this bit of wit from I think William F. Buckely, although I wasn't able to find the quote as I remember it on the web: "The only thin

You also need to factor in this bit of wit from I think William F. Buckely, although I wasn't able to find the quote as I remember it on the web: "The only thing liberals want to be liberated from is their marriage vows." I.e. there is an aspect of self-interest in all this. This is a complete misunderstanding of the intent and the actual result, but someone as honest and principled as William F. Buckley can be forgiven for misunderstanding :-) Affairs have always been an option for married people. Back in more conventional days with less freedom of choice, anyone in an unhappy marriage had an understandable reason for an affair. At least in the upper classes -- in William F. Buckley's milieu -- longstanding affairs could be open secrets and might not bring any opprobrium onto the parties involved, depending on the exact perception of the situation. These days, the legitimization of non-marriage lifestyle choices has made open-minded progressives feel more responsible for their marriages. Most progressives are pretty bland in their sexual tastes, especially after marriage. They mostly commit themselves to conventional, sexually monogamous marriages. Without rigid societal rules to take partial blame, inability to stick to that conventional image of marriage has finally become a purely personal moral failure even in the eyes of social progressives. Yet most progressives still choose marriage and submit themselves to this standard. For the average progressive, little has changed about sex except that the pre-marriage scene has been liberated from fears about shame and pregnancy. tl;dr Being a progressive and a liberal has always been mostly about fighting for rights that one will personally never exercise. William F. Buckley was a brilliant intellectual, but he was wrong on this. Monte Python, however, nailed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifgHHhw_6g8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifgHHhw_6g8