Why is it illegal to have multiple spouses?

[The Grand Nudger]

The bureaucratic and administrative hurdles to currently non-sanctioned unions (in the us) all have historic antecedents here or there.

OFC religious influences created the shape of the contemporary paperwork problem. However, the reason that we're still running with dual pairings, today, really boils down to complexity at scale. If we, firstly, understand that the state's compelling interest in sanctioning particular kinds of marriage is the creation and maintenance of brand new (future)taxpayers - then a solution to each special interest groups problems ought to be easy to derive.

Any marriage, of any kind, from any authority, ought to automatically initiate every property based legal structure that exists in this country.

Any marriage (of any kind, from any authority) that can produce or -is- caring for children ought to automatically initiate every property based and child welfare based legal structure that exists in this country.

We already have a system for dealing with cases of complex ownership. Let everyone marry anyone they want in front of anyone they want to get married by ...and.....on the process end, deal with each type of marriage arrangement according to the interests of the state.

Problem...solved.

You wanna marry 40 girls. Awesome. So long as they're each satisfied with 1/40th of the estate.
You're a boy who who wants to marry a boy and adopt a kid, or a girl who wants to marry a girl and adopt a kid? Great. The legal structure ought to be based on the fact that you have a kid and not what your gender happens to be. Because the kid-as-future-taxpayer is the states compelling interest. Easy.

You wanna marry 40 boys -or- girls -and- not have kids? Good for you too. No need to extend child benefits. Less paperwork. Property ownership, inheritance, medical, and insurance. Handled.

Honestly, the state getting wholly the fuck out of sanctioning marriages and into sanctioning contractual arrangements whether theyre called marriage or something else is the ideal. If your cousin who smokes dope and talks to magpies is your religious leader he ought to be able to marry you, but whether or not that marriage comes with other state sanctioned benefits is another matter entirely.

Ultimately, we're just asking them to do more (and more complex) paperwork. Fine by me. We really ought to get something from them for the taxes we pay. They can stamp forms. They can stamp forms for days. We're already paying them to stamp forms. Who wants to tell me that we have needless social division on this issue because we don't wanna buy ink or because we don't wanna pay low level functionaries minimum wage?

Simple solutions to simple problems. Now, mind you, none of this is going to happen because the maintenance of longstanding problems is crucial to the status quo which is otherwise useful to the powers that be.