Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (6744)	2/27/2001 4:34:15 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

What you actually said was: Making it harder to get married accomplishes nothing. Now you're modifying that into " I said that making it harder to get married wouldn't solve the problem." I didn't claim that it would solve the problem. I do claim that it would be one step in helping address the problem. It there's a world of difference between accomplishing nothing (your first criticism) and not solving a problem (your current criticism). I think making marriage harder would reduce the problems of broken marriages, domestic violence, and children living in broken homes. Not solve, but reduce. There are some basic tools that can be taught. There are some basic legal principles that people should know BEFORE they decide to marry. There are some questions they should ask. They would all help. If people had a better handle on how successful marriages work, what tools are available for conflict mangement (every marriage has conflict; you can't take the conflict out of a marriage. But you can give people some tools so that SOME of the conflicts which now result in domestic violence and divorce could be addressed properly and lead to more successful marriages. This is not rocket science. We know how to do all these things. We are quite good at many of them. The problem is that we let people get married and stay married without ever knowing that the tools exist. It's like taking a 16 year old who's never seen good driving and saying there's no need to learn how to drive, here's a driver's license, just drive. That was pretty much the situation in 1900. But then we realizedit wasn't a very smart way to go, and started requiring that people take tests, and in some states now that they take a certified drivers ed course before they can apply for a license. As a driver on the same roads, I'm dang glad that we do require these things. And now that we realize there is a crisis of divorce and broken families and it's hurting our society and our kids, it's time we took the same approach to the marriage license. No, it won't SOLVE the problem any more than taking drivers ed and a licensing test SOLVES the problem of accidents. Accidents will still happen, and divorces will still happen. But education and training will help minimize both problems.