Santa Clara County is using the excuse of helping gays get married to undercut the wedding prices of local ministers. This increases county revenue while badly hurting the local wedding businesses. As usual, a seemingly good idea has multiple damaging unintended consequences.
Marrying people inexpensively and immediately damages our social fabric. For hundreds of years, the government has issued licenses, and then ministers married people. Even Las Vegas sends people from the county to local wedding chapels. THIS IS BECAUSE IT IS A GOOD IDEA TO ALLOW PEOPLE SOME TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHETHER THEY REALLY WANT TO BE MARRIED.
$40 for a quickie marriage is a small enough sum that it is very tempting for clerks to just pocket the money. (All people must buy an $80 marriage license. The county is offering to complete the job for $40 while the people stand at the counter.)
I also hear rumors that the marriage clerks offer their own marriage services to marriage license purchasers. "I will come to your back yard and marry you. Here is my card, " is what I hear that the clerks are doing.
This idea has spread to counties across the US. The internet makes it really easy to share ideas that look smart, but are actually stupid ideas.
County officials look the other way as they want to increase county revenue in as many ways as possible.
BUT DOES THE COUNTY REALLY NEED TO STEAL BUSINESS FROM OUR LOCAL MINISTERS?
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