[extropy-chat] re: Rephrase the "Marriage" question...

[Adrian Tymes]

--- Mike Lorrey <mlorrey at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The idea of having to register ANY entity is what is
> anathema.

How so, if the entity is purely a government construct
used to signal non-default behaviors in certain
circumstances, such as ability to designate health
care options (including cryonics) if the person being
cared for is no longer able to?  The government has to
know that it has been asked not to behave in its usual
manner - and if yet another different step is desired,
one can sign a contract and make sure the government
becomes aware of it if needed (for which registration
is one of the options with the best chance of
success).

If a "marriage" is not supposed to alter the
government's behavior towards the married couple, for
instance if it is a purely religious matter and both
partners will continue filing their own tax returns
and have written wills et al, then don't register it.
(Or for a corporate version: current law where I live
says that if you want to start a private business -
one which you own entirely, with no shares or board or
anything like that - and it isn't of a category the
government has a special reason to regulate - like
restaurants (government health inspectors mostly make
it unnecessary for private citizens to pay for their
own inspectors) - then so long as your business's name
indicates who owns it (to avoid certain classes of
scams we've faced before), you can just start up and
go without registration.  Once you've made money, you
have to report it for income taxes, but even then you
don't have to report much more than that you made X
amount of money through some form of self-employment.)