Okay, I'll be serious for a moment. But, I'm not going to stay on the rails here, because I don't really like any of the scenery they go by.

Marriage is a contract. It's an economic institution. I don't talk about love and sex very much if I can help it. That's personal stuff, and frankly I don't understand where most people are coming from. I try, but it's just not something I "get". I try to stick to subjects I understand, even (perhaps especially) when being a needling smartass.

My objection to "shacking up" is a practical matter. It's not an emotional or spiritual thing. I do notice that people here, for being so obsessed with material things, spend an inordinate amount of time talking about spiritual and emotional matters. Since I don't understand or relate well to most of that discussion, I try to avoid it.

And, for such a spiritually conversant people, Americans seem to have a real problem actually talking about or addressing death. When I was in Latin America, wow... I thought we probably talked about death a little too much. Here? It's like everyone is determined to pretend he or she is immortal. Anyway, marriage helps a lot with the transmission of property following death. It helps a lot with the assignment of responsibility in the event of a medical or legal crisis.

Ideally it would also help you identify who is and who is not a viable potential sex partner, but humans are generally so horny that it's probably never been particularly good at that.

That's really all I have to say on the subject. I'm not going to try and convince anyone I'm right... because frankly you people are idiots and you deserve to suffer.