TheOtherDave comments on Poly marriage? - Less Wrong
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.
Comments (127)
I am somewhat confused by your response.
For example, I agree with you that putting information about who inherits my house in my will is the obvious thing to do. But what I'm asking is, if I die without having specified who inherits my house, is determining who inherits my house a government issue, or not?
If it helps, in most jurisdictions the U.S. today, the mechanism for this determination is controlled by law, which is understood to be a function of the government. I don't know whether that's sufficient to make it a government issue, or not.
If it is a government issue, then marriage in the U.S. is a government issue as well, since one of the things the government must establish in order to make that determination is whether I am married and if so to whom.
It is a government issue, and it is a good point. I don't think (but I'm not sure) that it's not good enough on its own.
At the very least, the government should stay out of marriage when possible, and they should keep everything optional (perhaps you don't want your spouse to inherit your stuff).
It's fuzzy. That means that it's at least a little a government issue, but not necessarily important enough that they really should do it. You could find some reason why the government should care about anything.
I'm not saying "the government should care about who gets my house, and marriage relates to that decision, and therefore marriage should be a government issue."
I'm saying "right now, today, in the real world, the government does care about who gets my house, and marriage relates to that decision, and therefore marriage is, right now, a government issue."
As I said initially: