So back when all of the rigamarole started over whether or not gay marriage should be legal or should there be a constitutional amendment banning it I advocated an alternative solution to the problem. I said I wanted to outlaw marriage altogether. Gay, straight and otherwise. I then explained that its not so much that I want to make marriage a crime. I just want to abolish the legal concept of marriage altogether. Marriage as a social construct should still exist. Your religion should be able to bless your union, your family should give you presents (if that is their tradition) celebrating your romance, there should be a lovely ceremony with vows and drinking and dancing and whatever if you are so inclined, but there need not be any government involvement, and there shouldn't be any special legal advantages or disadvantages to such a union. At this point, the differentiation between marriage and civil union becomes moot. If you want to contractually give another woman or man power of attorney, I feel you should totally be able to. Romantic relationships, familial ones, gender, etc. shouldn't come into question at all.
So anyway, I had this great idea of just abolishing marriage. And they said I was crazy. They say that a lot. But now, there is a politcal party in Sweden (one of those great non-USA nations with more tha 2 viable political parties –– they are expecting to pull some 20% of the vote) that is running candidates on that platform. The Feminist Initiative has stated that "marriage is about love, not ownership", and candidates with the no more marriage platform. Instead they are in favor of "cohabitation laws" that are gender agnostic and allow more than 2 members to a partnership (which is something else I had been advocating).
And here's the part that I also love. Since they are serious about wanting to win, and realize that they need a little more than feminist and gay issues support to actually win, they are courting the valuable straight male vote by also promising to implement a 6 hour work day. Yeah, I can get behind that.
I love when the world comes along to recognizing my brilliance as a visionary. Today the abolishment of marriage, tomorrow the return of Cop Rock!
