Many of you have probably heard the uproar over a German politicians proposal to limit civil marriage contracts to 7 year terms, after which they could be renewed. If not, take a look here: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/article2500361.ece I'm wondering what people think about the idea.
I agree, if you aren't going to include till death...etc. then renewing the license is just in your future. It saves people money and grief, also you can kind of expect it if you don't do a tradition marriage.
You are SO wrong. They're great for people who don't have the money to get married but live together and want the the tax benefits of a married couple because they still have been living together for 10 years. They're good for disabled people who can't go out and get a marriage license, and they're good for people who want to be together forever but just don't want to go through the hassle of getting married especially if they have been in a marriage or two previously.
I don't really like the idea myself. As far as it preventing expenses and hassle... that argument kinda falls flat because even if the renewal plan doesn't start that way - you know sooner rather than later the goverment is going to start requiring a fee for each renewal. Not to mention that anybody who wants to take half your stuff is going to be smart enough to file for divorce before the 7 year term is up, or act real nice to get a renewal and THEN file for divorce. Secondly, it defeats the whole purpose of marriage. Marriage is supposed to be a permanent bond, mainly to provide a stable enviroment for raising children. Turning marriage into a 7 year contractural best buddy system seems pretty stupid to me. Make a new system if that's what you want. 7 year couple contracts or whatever... but don't go twisting the marriage arrangement into something it's not meant to be.
but marriage has already been twisted, thats the whole reason why this has come up. If the statistics didn't show that huge amounts of marriages end before reaching 10 years then this would never have been an issue. @moobox; no one should be getting married for tax benefits, and weddings don't have to cost lots of money, you can easily do it on the cheap, which has never been a problem for people on low incomes. What stops a disabled person from getting a marriage license? If you don't love your partner enough to go through the hassle of getting married then should you even bother continuing the relationship?
That's true, the marriage arrangement is on life support. But I don't think the solution to that is to devalue it even more. =/
About the statement you made about it defeating the purpose of marriage, being the permanent bond between two people. Marriage actually did not start out in that way. In the old days, you would get married and wear a ring so you knew that the female was property of the man. They didn't have to love eachother, it was a way or marking property.
@ moobox - that depends on what culture and time period you're talking about... I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "the old days"? but regardless, marriage has always - as far as I can recall - referred to a permanent bond, with divorce being the result of some serious problem never simply a timer running out and agreed with BnechbReaker - why 7? seems so random... even from a government standpoint it defeats the whole purpose why do governments give tax breaks, etc to married couples? because they want to reward the behavior of providing stable platforms in society. Families are the bedrock of any society. So governments want families. So why should ppl be rewarded for making temporary commitments - when that doesn't do anything to bolster society?
well yeah, ppl shouldn't be getting married for tax breaks - I agree fully with you on that - but that's what the 7 year thingy would end up being... why have a temp agreement? it doesn't represent any REAL commitment, so the only reason I can see ppl doing it for is to get the benefits that marriage offers - and they shouldn't get rewards for not really doing anything and yeah, that is why governments do it - same reason they give tax breaks to big companies coming to areas and stuff... the big company boosts local economy = good thing, so gov gives them a reward.... more families = good thing, so gov rewards married couples yeah, ppl shouldn't be getting married just to get rewards - but gov shouldn't be giving rewards to ppl who don't make commitments either
sigh... I think from a practical point of view the 7 yr marriage might have some merit, because if over the past couple decades divorce rates have risen very much... then hey, why not? It would deff. impact the term-- "marriage" will become a contract and Love a dotted line... I don't like it. call me a romantic but a diamond ring and court order doesn't make a couple... or husband and wife.
