RE: Color Challenge - Indigo Saturday - Quilt
My marriage lasted 17 years. We had two children. We married too young. I had not yet formed as a man, and had not yet established myself "in the world". The Bible says, and it's true, that all should marry. You cannot become fully a man without a wife who, at your side, becomes fully a woman.
My views regarding the details are conservative (lifelong commitment, no birth control, no abortion, no cheating, the woman "loves, honors, obeys", the man "cherishes and protects", and perhaps most importantly, the woman is not in any sense a "partner" and does NOT help out with providing for the family.
What you and your future wife do, of course, will depend upon the ideas that you and she were raised with and how much the two of you have bought into the cultural message, which I view as propoganda designed to serve the interests of special interests rather than the interests of the couple and their children.
I know people who don't do as they were raised. Even kids in the same family grow up and do things differently. They make different choices whether they marry or stay single. I support people making those choices in whether they want to marry or not or in having abortions or not and I do not care what people do as long as they do not make me do whatever they want me to do.
That sounds libertarian, and I consider myself a libertarian. It is important to distinguish two very different issues, both important. The first issue is whether culture should clearly articulate its "way of life", including gender roles and sexual mores. The second issue is whether the coercive power of the State should be used to enforce such rules.
My views are conservative and my methods are libertarian. I want to be allowed to speak my views so that they are available to anyone who would hear and consider them. But I don't want my views, or the views of my opposition, to be enforced by government. IOW, I want "informed choice", where "informed" comes from a vigorous civic conversation in which all views are heard and considered.
Agreed, gov shouldn't enforce religion, culture, these things, as they do in the Middle East for example.
I wouldn't go quite that far. People should be empowered with choice. Those who want to live in a theocracy should be able to do so.
Interesting.