This is really getting old now. You all were more than happy to have fedgov sanction and subsidize your marriages and families at the expense of un-married tax payers. Now you carp and bitch when fedgov attaches strings to it. There are plenty of examples even in the movies of why it’s a bad idea to let the mafia don do favors for you. Same goes with uncle fedgov. If your vaunted institution meant that much to you, you should have kept the government out of it and not taken the graft. You lay down with dogs, you have no right to bitch about waking up with fleas. This is one lesson you’re going to have to learn the hard way. But most of you are still going to miss the point.
Bitter, party of one, your table is ready.
Government DOES NOT "grant" that which is marriage. It RECOGNIZES marriage for what it is, what it has always been. And it MUST recognize it because of all the social externalities which result from this union.
There is very little, if anything, that government does to manage marriage. People can get married any way they want, with any kind of ceremony, or none at all, and conduct the entire length of their marriage as they see fit, without ANY involvement of government.
That a man and a woman are deemed to "become one flesh" when they wed is simply common tradition and religious conviction, if not an actual reality in many aspects. That they are TREATED as one flesh, by government or any outside party, shouldn't surprise anyone. This "one-flesh" way in which they are treated is expressed in the societal and governmental policies toward marriage, joint-filing of income tax (as one entity,) the right against testifying against your spouse in court (the 5th Amendment, testifying against YOURSELF), etc.
That is a very insulting way to speak of marriage.
“If your vaunted institution meant that much to you”...
It is HUMANITY’S institution, what do you mean by “your” are you somehow apart from the human race?