Posted as a comment on The Business of Marriage
On the surface, it might appear as though the State's authority to approve a marriage is required because of its needed involvement when things go south in a bad marriage. Legal separation, custody battles, the traditionally-required alimony become the State's problem when two not-so-happy-ever-after-the-wedding parties decide to break up a marriage. So we can try to conclude right here that a State needs to authorize a union just so it can "fairly" unauthorize it.
"But aha", cry Apos and Trisco (they both actually and separately did, when I presented this argument to them), "why can't marriage then be just like another business contract? A contract that can be drawn up between two separate parties, albeit with a notary present, and doesn't require a license , State's approval, definitely no tax breaks and can still be a legal basis for fairness when the parties break the contract!"
That's a great point. So why can't a marriage just be a business contract? Lets dig deeper.
A marriage is a legal union of two individuals. The State has to be in the dirty business of this union because it has put itself in the dirty business of approving of who is legally an individual! The State is in one's life to begin with (that's right ...at the moment when you were born and had no idea of what's right and what's wrong - in the hospital...right after you blink your pretty little eyes at your loving mom). Must to Realism's outrage and Nihilism's delight, you don't really exist as an individual until the State grants you an existence license in the form of a birth certificate. And in fact, it's even consistent in handing out a nice tax break, albeit to your parents, for your recent appearance in this world. The State is there to begin with - without this birth certificate, you cannot get a drivers license, a passport or hell, even a marriage license. Since we all have implicitly accepted this power of the State to authorize the existence of an individual, by extension we have to accept (damn, logically, for rationality's sake, we have to demand !) the State's power to grant the union of two individuals as a single entity (and again by extension, demand a tax break for the same).
You cannot drink, travel, drive, earn, move, own, marry, and technically exist, without the State's consent.
Realism squirms and Nihilism shrugs as we walk away with our driver's license secure in our pockets.
ps: As a side note, it is very interesting how the tax breaks encourage the traditional role of a female as a home-keeper. The tax breaks, when filing as a couple, help only those whose incomes are very lopsided (maximized when only one person earns). In fact, if you have a spouse who makes the same amount (albeit extremely low), you are better off filing separately. Being single, why do I know this? Coz,I am suspicious of Govts. trying to nudge the masses. With nudge comes power (and we all know with great power comes current squared times resistance :P). And marriage is a classic instance of this.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
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This is turning out to be a lot more interesting than I imagined! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not ready to accept that the State needs to be involved in this.
When you are born, you exist. Now whether or not the State knows that you exist is a different question. The birth certificate, in my mind, is not really a license to exist. You are born in a hospital, and the doctor certifies that this is true and you get that notorized at some municipality. The reason to have a birth certificate is that it lets the State know that you exist, and that you are a citizen of the country. It needs to know this because its purpose is to uphold your rights. The fact that it gives you a tax break for this, doesn't seem right to me.
A passport is somewhat neccessary because we live in a world where most borders are not open. The reason they are not open is partly to protect the citizens of their respective countries. When it comes to safety of the people of a country, I think it is the responsibility of the govt to make sure that it keeps its citizens safe.
When it comes to the other examples such as drinking, driving, earning money etc. I don't see why the State needs to approve/license any of these things. Monopolizing on these industries gives the State power to decide what it law vs what might be good housekeeping rules (such as don't drink till you are 21).
I think the State has a reason to be involved in certain situations when what I do to myself distortes someone else's freedom in some way, as well as in situations when what a group of people do (with voluntary consent) distortes someone else's freedom.
Being born and coming to existence has a very objective definition. "Marriage" to me has a subjective definition. Giving the State the power to decide what is the definition of "Marriage" is the reason why we are in the situation where we are impinging on gay people their rights.
Ofcourse the world that I want to live in doesn't exist.. so I guess it is time for a compromise. At the least the State should get rid of the term "Marriage" and call it a "Legal Union" or something else, because the current term "Marriage" is blended with too many religious groups' notion of Marriage and therefore we are in the pickle we are in.
Just like how need a birth certificate only to "legally" (and not literally) exist, you can absolutely get "married" to someone without a State license. It all depends on what is marriage from one's perspective? Is it the priest granting you permission to kiss the bride? Or is it a piece of paper signed by a judge? If you have a wedding that 100s attend but don't follow it with a marriage license does that mean you aren't married? Talking about which, you only need the marriage license for an unknown State official to recognize your union. If you don't want the tax break (or a tax burden) and you don't really need the State to officially recognize your union then you don't need a marriage license.
ReplyDeleteSo why would you ever need the State to officially recognize a marriage?
Lets go back to your point about the need for a birth certificate to uphold your rights. I disagree. In order for the State to grant you your fundamental rights all it needs to do is "see" and confirm your existence. Any human being should have fundamental rights. Whether one is a human being or not is self evident (and when it is not, one could even do a DNA test:) ). But if one buys this argument for starters, then the need for a marriage license is even more strong. It is to protect the other (perhaps now-bitter half) and grant them their "marriage" rights. It is to avoid marriage fraud, so that men (at least historically) don't pack bags and leave the wives and the families behind and set shop in the next town with the pretty lass next door. Now, the estranged wife can come rolling into town and wave that piece of paper and "prove" that she was married. While existence is obvious in the case of the individual, that of a marriage isn't.
Interestingly, we are back to my first argument as to why we need a marriage license (to protect rights when things go south in a marriage ...).
And I still think second point is deeper
which is the legal definition of marriage as the legal union of two individuals.
If that doesn't work for you, marriage is just another legal contract (Legal Definition of marriage from somewhere on google: A contract made in due form of law, by which a free man and a free woman reciprocally engage to live with each other during their joint lives, in the union which ought to exist between husband and wife. By the terms freeman and freewoman in this definition are meant, not only that they are free and not slaves, but also that they are clear of all bars to a lawful marriage. . The reason it cannot be written up as just another business contract is because there are no set rules as to what constitutes (and what unconstitutes) a marriage. . Think about what would you put on the business contract - that one should love , comfort , honor and keep the other, in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sadness and in joy, to cherish and continually bestow upon the other their heart’s deepest devotion? Well, that will never hold up in court! Why? For starters, try legally defining not-being-in love.
So, a marriage is just another business contract, legally taken on by the State to enforce the duties of the couple to each other, and has it own category as a "marriage license" because it relies on the social concept of marriage.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the problem with legal union ? Well, can only two people be legally united? Why the arbitrary cutoff? (but we are imbibed with the knowledge that technically marriage is only between two, thanks to centuries of tradition) So, does the State get to decide who gets married and who doesn't? Apparently - but only if they care to be legally recognized.
Is a marriage license outdated and must it be booted? Absolutely. Will the State get out it? Absolutely not.
ps: I don't buy the argument about passport or driving license either. A passport is just another "tax" -it has no record of your criminal activities on it. Only recently,these records exist on a database. And why should a country's Govt have the right to say who visits or who leaves the country (apart from terrorists)! Historically, a passport originated not to protect the people of a country, but to protect the person traveling! In fact, in medieval Islamic Caliphate, a form of passport was used in the form of a bara'a, a receipt for taxes paid. Only citizens who paid their zakah (for Muslims) or jizya (for Dhimmis) taxes were permitted to travel to different regions of the Caliphate, thus the bara'a receipt was a "traveller's basic passport." . Others, were executed by the king! More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passport#History
Every form of license is just another tax!
Marriage takes place in the mind between two people. The marriage ceremony in religion is just a confirmation of that in front of god and family. Of course Govt. got involved! They are involved in everything! If you fought everything the Govt. did then you couldn't buy milk much less walk to the store to buy milk. Why not just file the paper work so that generations down the road, when we are dead and gone, can look up what exceptional stock they came from. After all, love is already there in all of us!
ReplyDelete-Jana