I live in a community where there are several "poly" communes- several sets of adults that are "religiously" married. They have several "legal" married couples within the group. They have children between them. often not between the legal married couples. Also- there are several BDSM "poly" farms here in Hawaii, that have some sort of hierarchy that only they themselves can really define.
What is interesting to me living here and seeing this is this- they are having a hard time negotiating the financial and legal obligations of their relationships. Some also have some kinds of religious beliefs that holds their communities together. I seem to see that most of the communities are no more or less successful than one man one woman marriages. They live on farms and co-own, well, the farm. Sometimes these communes break up and it is not healthy for the children or the adults regarding what happens next in courts.
Secular marriage as it is practiced in America, for about 100 years now, has nothing to do with procreation or religion- but rather, the rights the married has when a spouse becomes ill and can not make decisions for themselves, or the marriage has ended. The actual day to day living of marriage means nothing legally at all.
The idea that "one man one woman" is the "traditional" marriage is of course wrong- polygamist marriage far out dates our current secular definitions.
So my question is:
Should the government end the marriage thing as we know it?
Should we go to contractual agreements only- without the current "default" we have now?