Marriage is a sacrament of the church. It’s also a part of the American tax code and many laws concerning community property and access to health care. As a sacrament marriage continues to function well. As an element of the America legal system is has become quite a headache. Single people decry the tax benefits of marriage, feminists bemoan the hegemony of marriage, religious conservatives hoard marriage, and gay and lesbian groups want access to legal benefits given to those married. It’s time to give marriage back to the church.
Household Living Situations and Marriage
According to the US Census report America’s Families and Living Arrangements: 2008 just under 50% of households in American are headed by a married couple living together. That means the other half of households in America are living in a different arrangement and probably paying higher taxes for this reason. Today 17% of households are headed by a single parent. 33% of households are considered nonfamily households. 28% of households are comprised of a single person and 82% of these people are over the age of 35. Over 6 million unmarried couples live together and according to The American Community Survey approximately 800,000 are same sex couples.
The Financial and Legal Privileges of Marriage
The privileges of marriage are numerous. Legally laws protect and guide property rights, child custody, and child support is dissolution, immigration and residency. Financially married people get joint discounts on auto insurance, medical insurance, social security benefits, Medicare benefits, pension plans and annuities, and benefit in regards to estate planning. Then there are benefits related to family visits in hospitals, next-of-kin access and decisions, adoption, custom claims, domestic violence protection, and judicial protection and evidentiary protection.
Time to Give Marriage Back
Let the churches have marriage and any form of dissolution they choose. Churches can marry whoever they want to marry and deny marriage to whoever they choose. The American government should just ignore the whole thing. The government can’t legislate love or holy sacraments. What the government can do is recognize and govern contracts. The government can tailor new laws based on contracts between individuals and a new tax system based on contract between individuals. Government, institutions, and companies can then construct the means to giving everyone equal benefits and access based on contracts. This approach allows the church to define marriage any way it desires. It allows for a tax structure based on contracts between individual instead of a government preferred living arrangement. This approach allows feminists to construct contracts that protect women instead of relying on laws they consider patriarchal. Finally, this allows gays and lesbians to participate in the benefits denied to them because of laws surrounding the convention of marriage. Most of all it stops the bickering about something the government should have never gotten involved with in the first place.
