Kids of Republicans pull parents to the left on gay marriage

[SteveRogers]

I don't mean to sound rude, but I find your post near totally incoherent. Sorry about that.

You see, he's arguing that the real victims of discrimination in America are straight, single males. And he has nothing against gay people, but if we let gay people get married, then that will just enlarge the ruling married class, thus granting them more power to discriminate against single people. Obviously.

[SteveRogers]

Can you explain your position? I'm apt to defend it and probably agree with you but I haven't understood your points.

My position is that the SSM debate is the symptom of a much larger disease, but I'm not interested in treating symptoms anymore.

There is no equity in our system between married and single. The tax code is FUBAR and graduated rates are inherently flawed. People do not have equality of relationship contract, either. SSM does virtually nothing, other than re-establish stability so the House Ways and Means, Senate Finance Committee, and state legislators can get back to their usual task of designing an arcane system of rights and punishments based upon our relationship status.

To make matters worse, a bunch of numbskulls are running around the country in a fever, legally enslaving people via the remedy of specific performance, which generates incalculable ill-will between various American demographics, while stimulating reactionary backlash.

If we set out to fail, the societal outcome would probably be less damaging.

If you don't want to get married, then just don't get married.

[SteveRogers]

I just don't get the bit that because one favors SSM, one doesn't care about what is in the tax code, and give a damn if it is unfair. How to treat married couples, by they gay or straight, in the tax code, versus the unmarried, is a worthy, and indeed complex, subject of discussion, but has absolutely nothing to do with the merits of SSM that I can see. Ditto with your other listed beefs about the system. Folks who favor SSM marriage can walk and chew gum at the same time, every bit as much as you can, and care about other issues of unfairness. And as many here will tell you, while we may be allies on SSM, we may disagree on some other issues. I cannot fathom why you conflate all of this with sincerity.

While I'm sure that some SSM couples are merely fighting for recognition, the real debate is about the equality of privileges granted to married couples. Many of these privileges are granted via the tax code. For instance, the ability to list a spouse on employer healthcare, which is excluded from income and taxation. Other SSM couples may be interested in receiving the preferential married tax rates, which provide big tax breaks for couples with disparate income between partners. Same-sex couples also want preferential rules for probate and spousal estate planning.

Gay couples are fighting for community property rights, and the right to make medical decisions for a spouse w/o power of attorney, and the right to adopt and list dependents on health insurance, and so on.

It's all connected. The tax system, retirement system, and health insurance system, which vest incredible power in the contract of marriage. Congress is supposed to disarm the situation so we can all live together, but they choose to place more emphasis on the importance of exerting power and cultural control over the minority faction.

Whether or not marriage can be same-sex is basically irrelevant. What is really at stake is whether Congress will act to stabilize a population with much lower incidence of marriage, evolving culture and rapidly increasing disparity of wealth (caused mainly by the culture of educated dual-income married couples).

The minority faction over which the ruling class is exerting power is... single people??? Lololol

Dude, if you don't want to get married, then Just. Don't. Get. Married.