Why government is involved in marriage

Marriage is and has always been about property rights. 

I do think that Marriage is a business deal above all else. It is a transfer/merger of property. And women were considered property. If they weren't considered property themselves, they were surely the human conduit by which the property was exchanged/consolidated.
A woman's property was controlled by her father or her husband.

Now most of us are not forced into a merger by our family, we create the merger based on our own criteria

Property law gives immediate family members rights to your property and the ability to make decisions for you without a will or power of attorney
A marriage adds a person to your immediate family. It gives that person more rights over your property than your other family members

A marriage license is used in lieu of a will or a power of attorney.

Composition of a Family. 

 Something different all together. Family is what we should be meditating on. Again, what it can look like, what it means, how we (the community) will support it
I think marriages fail because they shouldn't have been united in the first place.

I love the idea of the person performing the marriage requesting a couple get marriage counseling before they get marriage
The counselor can facilitate a discussion about marriage. Why they are getting married.

I think people are too caught up in 'right or wrong' that they miss the actual meaning behind it. I tend not to think in those terms. I think in terms of healthy/unhealthy, suffering/well-being. Thinking about an action and it's real consequences. And knowing the receipt of those consequences depend on the individual.

Ask yourself if you are willing to consider this person a family member bonded like your blood relatives.