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Originally Posted by Still Growing  ...why does that need to be recognized, policed and managed by the gov't? |
It doesn't. That's the beauty of it -- we each get to choose. If you don't want to enter into an institutionalized relationship that is recognized, policed, and managed by the government, you don't have to. And if you do choose it, that's fine, too.
Why would you want to reduce the choice for others, when all you have to do is make a choice for yourself? Would you want others to reduce your choice -- say, by forcing you into a marriage? Many people want their partnership to be "institutionalized" as you put it -- who are you to take that choice away from them? What does it cost you, who choose otherwise, for them to have the same freedom you have?
A married couple can choose to file their tax returns separately. A married couple can choose to divorce or not to divorce, and to pay all the consequences of their choice. How does their choice affect you, or anyone else?
Again, if you would like to contribute to the death of the institution of marriage, all you've got to do is choose not to get committed to that institution. You don't have to institutionalize the removal of that choice for others.