Quote:
Originally Posted by aelle  I might be biased (honestly, I think I've lived around the world enough not to be that much), but you brought your fair share of ethnocentricism to this thread too. Unlike in the US where traditional family values are strong and the pressure to marry is widespread, people in Europe (France in particularly) aren't subject to that pressure. |
I don't think ethnocentric is the best definition to describe either of us. I do however, think that there are certain core beliefs that the average European has about the government's role in people's lives.
You mention the benefits that people get when they marry. Why can't some of these benefits be opened up in another fashion? Inheritances can be covered by wills, taxes can be flat and so on.
My argument that my proposal is more efficient is much different than me saying "it would be easy to get passed".
I've found that in life sometimes less is more.
OK so lets have the gov't manage Scuba licenses. First we can create laws, then we'll need buildings and departments to regulate safety then we'll need more laws governing those buildings then we'll need judges from all the Scuba accident lawsuits then we'll need staff working for the judges and then we'll need additional IRS workers to manage the Scuba tax deductions and of course they'll need offices and then we'll need insurance for the IRS workers and life insurance. Maybe we should give tax deductions to those who get a Scuba license and then we can even create more laws to enable Scuba license holders to train other wannabe Scuba divers. We'd certainly need laws that prohibit same sex people Scuba diving together, that would be against some people's religions. Maybe we should form a committee about that.
We all know that Scuba diving takes more training and skill than getting married, I'm not sure if the government could handle institutionalizing Scuba diving.
