"So far, you have not persuaded me that there is a principle involved to support your view........"
People can enter into a marriage without a firm grasp of the traditional implications. People can also choose to not have kids or stop having kids and still benefit from the richness of life offered by a fully active sexual relationship while being married. Entering into sexual relations with a partner you are trying on for size (going steady with) however, opens the door to the devestating consequences that define the current normative standard.
From post 20329"Having done this you must go to an outside entity (outside the two participants) to take responsibility for any negative results. STD's, unwanted births, trajic medical interventions such as abortions, etc. all take a bearing on this standard. Throw lots of education at it, social services, government interventions, medical support, and you eliminate or reduced these negative side effects of the norm standard...not."
The principle of legitimacy requires that a marriage be based on the sincere commitment to enter into a life of sharing, caring, devotion and responsibility for the ups and downs of the relationship. This makes marriage a binding and licit obligation. The outcomes of a "going steady" relationship require no legitimate recourse on the participants. Yet, the statistics of the past thirty years expose the consequences of supporting and promoting the normative standard as acceptable. Some people measure the extent of a loving relationship to be correlated to the level of commitment. A marriage commits the participants in the eyes of one another and with the support of the community. When communities were small villages a marriage cerimony brought everyone's eyes to bear on the event and to form a position of support for the effort of the two involved to maintain their devotion. Going steady is hardly the same. I'm rambling, so I'll stop here. The principle "commitment" |
