Making a Market in “Marriage Certificates”
Marriage is now a relative term.
It used to be that marriage certificates had the same value, no matter who issued them. Not any more. They are issued by states, sometimes under the auspices of religious institutions. The rules and qualifications vary widely among jurisdictions and among “churches”. So “marriage” certificates now have different meanings and different values depending on the variables.
The study of economics can be brought to bear to understand the value of these certificates since some are more valuable than others. A marriage certificate ought now to be viewed like a floating currency whose value is determined only in relation to other currencies. For example, a marriage certificate that is available to all is clearly less valuable than one which imposes the qualification of being humans of the opposite sex and un-divorced.
Let’s compare a marriage certificate to other types of certificates that have value. Imagine you're sitting in the examination room waiting for your doctor to appear, when your eye catches his framed diploma on the wall... “What the...?” you say... “University of http://www.affordabledegrees.com/OEFront/online_registration.aspx.“ The same principle can be applied to any type of certificate. If you know who issued it, when, and what standards were in place at the time, then you know what value it has.
The world is changing fast. We used to say that our money was as good as gold because we knew that the value of gold was stable and tangible. In some countries, they’ve debased the value of the currency so much now that nobody will accept it. In similar fashion, we used to think that a marriage certificate was as good as gold, but now there’s a “fiat” system that sets the value only in relation to other certificates. So someone may to say to you someday: "I'm sorry but we don't recognize your marriage... It's counterfeit... it's worthless."
Pity for example those who bear marriage certificates henceforth issued by Massachusetts under the auspices of The Episcopal Church. It’s not unlikely that a young couple considering marriage might choose one jurisdiction over another, knowing that the value of their certificate is relative. Even if they are otherwise allowed to marry in any jurisdiction because they are humans of opposite sexes and not divorced, their choice to marry in Massachusetts under the auspices of The Episcopal Church would bring into question the value of their matrimonial blessing.
It would be fun, and a worthy exercise therefore, to rank different "marriage certificates" now that "marriage" is just a relative term. Maybe a classification system would be helpful, such as: First Class, Second Class, and Baggage.
