Louisiana’s “Covenant Marriage” law allows couples to marry based on a separate legal code aside from no-fault divorce.

Here it is straight from the law books:

The laws are starting to change. In Tennessee, DNA testing of paternity is now mandatory for child-support cases.

Things are changing. After scoring a victory with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, conservatives are setting their sights at overturning no-fault divorce laws.

At-fault divorce laws, prior to 1970 and stretching centuries previous, looked something like this:

A married couple could divorce under mutually-agreed conditions.

If there was no mutual agreement, then the case went to court. There had to be proof of “fault,” typically abandonment, cruelty, incurable mental illness, or adultery. Wikipedia summarizes:

Prior to the latter decades of the 20th century, divorce was considered to be against the public interest, and civil courts refused to grant a divorce except if one party to the marriage had betrayed the “innocent spouse.” Thus, a spouse suing for divorce in most states had to show a “fault” such as abandonment, cruelty, incurable mental illness, or adultery. If an “innocent” husband and wife wished to separate, or if both were guilty, “neither would be allowed to escape the bonds of marriage.”[9] Divorce was barred if evidence revealed any hint of complicity between spouses to manufacture grounds for divorce, such as if the suing party engaged in procurement or connivance (contributing to the fault, such as by arranging for adultery), condonation (forgiving the fault either explicitly or by continuing to cohabit after knowing of it), or recrimination (the suing spouse also being guilty).

Unfortunately, this did lead to a lot of problems. Things would be tied up in court forever, and in the end, divorces were usually granted. (It is hard to imagine staying married to someone who ties you up in long legal cases.) Women who wanted to break up the family would inevitably claim that their husbands got drunk and beat them. I am sure this almost never happened, just as it almost never happens today. Nevertheless, about 25% of marriages ended in divorce in the 1960s, and probably there was a barrage of lies that went along with that. Some lawyers offered a “prostitute and photographer” package for women who wanted to frame their husbands for adultery.

Actually, three States today — Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee — require mutual consent for no-fault divorce.

What if the State just got out of it? Whether a man and a woman “were” or “were not” married, or divorced, simply was not a matter of the State’s concern. SigmaFrame had an interesting series about this history and concept.

This is not far from what we see in Scandinavian countries today, where men and women live together for a long time, and have children together, without ever getting “married.” Aren’t they married?

What would happen in the dissolution of one of these informal “common law marriages”? Probably, assets that were in an individuals’ name would be retained by the individual. Assets with formal joint ownership would probably have to be split somehow, likely with one side buying the other out, or just selling it and splitting the proceeds. Children would be distributed among parents, or even other relatives, as appropriate.

A step up from this is a private marriage contract, that is entirely a civil contract without State involvement. Basically it is a business contract, still enforceable by law.

The present child support system dates from 1975. It has given rise to the “child support model of marriage,” where a husband and father is no longer necessary — just his money.

Maybe we should just get rid of it. Whoever has custody of the child has to take care of it.

This would certainly remove incentives for women to blow up families and steal men’s children from them. We might see more father custody, a good thing overall. Maybe fathers should be given first choice of custody in divorce. Nevertheless, it brings up the question of who should get custody of the children. While today we tend to think about women who want to fool around with another man not their husband, nevertheless we should remember those men who want to fool around with another woman not their wife. One solution, adopted by the ancient Romans, was that husbands would primarily receive custody of their children. A new wife is probably not going to be very interested in a man that comes with children. She isn’t going to want to take care of another woman’s children (thus all the fairy tales that feature evil step-mothers). A man with children naturally wants someone to take care of them; and who better than their natural mother? Even if a man has a mistress on the side, the family is maintained.

I think that eliminating child support altogether would work pretty well for divorce. Whoever has the children takes care of them. But, the child support system arose from the problem of unmarried single mothers. It was intended, at least in part, to replace existing state welfare programs for single mothers, going back to at least the 1920s. From that point of view, it does make sense: If we are going to be supporting single mothers anyway, shouldn’t the biological father have some responsibility? This puts some of the risk and hardship of single motherhood on men, rather than women alone.

Today, we have reliable DNA testing, so that actual fathers can be identified. This is a relatively new thing. At the very least, we should make no man responsible for a child, who is not the biological father. Oddly enough, this would probably be good for single moms. One thing preventing men from taking up single mothers, and their children, is the risk of being liable for child support if you show even a small kindness to the woman’s children.

In recent decades, Republican and Conservative leaders have been ratcheting up the child support monster ever higher. Today, missing child support payments — even if a man loses his job — is about the only financial obligation that will land you in jail. And how are you supposed to make child support payments in jail?

I sure am writing a lot this morning.

Here we draw inspiration again from the Transformed Wife, Lori Alexander, who always has something interesting to talk about. Here, she talks about the former wife of Joshua Harris, the “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” guy. Shannon Harris talks about her experience in the Christian Church, the Adam and Eve story, and her interpretation of it.

First, let’s just take the Adam and Eve story as total fiction. But, even as fiction, it has certain themes and narratives.

Adam is in Eden and everything is fine. But, he is a little lonely.

Eve shows up. The story suggests that she is somewhat inferior to Adam, being created from his rib.

Eve is tempted and deceived by Satan.

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

This apple sounds a lot like … feminism!

“You shall be as gods” = “You can have it all!”

“the tree was good for food” = you can earn money at a career (????)

“pleasant to the eyes” = seems, on the surface, like a good idea.

“desired to make one wise” = appears the be wisdom.

Maybe, Eve has sex with Satan, and becomes pregnant with Cain (the first murderer).

All is not well in Eden.

Adam is not deceived by Satan, but he also agrees to eat the fruit,

Maybe he also adopts Feminist dogma to be agreeable with this wife?

In any case, Adam errs by following his wife’s leadership, even though he knows it is a bad idea.

You have to admit, there are a lot of interesting things in this story, even taken as a simple fairy tale.

Now, here is Shannon Harris:

My church and their brand of churches interpreted the creation story very literally. God created Adam, and then Eve. Women are second. God created Eve from Adam’s rib, so she’s not her own person. She’s been made from a piece of Adam. God gives Eve the job of Adam’s helper. She didn’t have her own purpose. And then, Eve is curious. She listens to the serpent and she trusts herself, and she becomes wise, and that’s seen as bad. She gets punished for her wisdom.

She becomes wise! She gets punished for her wisdom!

Ummm … maybe she was deceived by Satan? Isn’t that the story?

Is there any evidence of Eve showing any form of wisdom? There is not. Rather, Eve admits that the Serpent deceived her.

And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

There is a little hint at the end that, after a loooooong series of hardships, man will eventually come to know Good and Evil, and develop wisdom.

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

And so we see that women can’t even make sense of a funny little fable like this, only a few hundred words long.

And in doing so, we can see that indeed women are easy to deceive, just like the story says. They just make up any sort of nonsense.

You go girl!

Here’s a very average girl from rural China, with a really crappy $9 dress, and a little makeup but not that much.

But, she isn’t fat, has no noserings or tattoos, has long hair, and is making an effort.

It really is that easy.

Probably, she could be a Good Wife and Mother too. Good enough.

If you’re going to be a wife and mother, be a good one!

Because, what’s the point of being a bad one? Are you benefiting from this somehow? Obviously, your husband and children are not benefiting.

If you don’t want to be a wife and mother, then don’t. Good luck with that.

Being a Good Wife and a Good Mother is not that hard. Today, thousands of American men are going to places like the Philippines, and basically picking an average girl out of a crowd, who doesn’t even speak English, or not very well. And, these women usually make Good Wives and Mothers. Good enough.

Other men see that this has been mostly successful, so they do the same thing.

It’s not that difficult to be a Good Wife and a Good Mother. Most any woman can do it, including those of below-average intelligence and below-average natural beauty. (By “natural beauty” I mean mostly genes, setting aside uglification including obesity, noserings, and bad clothes.)

Yet, unfortunately, things are so bad in the US these days that even the Top 1% of Virtuous Girls can find it difficult to be a Good Wife and a Good Mother.

Of course the most common response is: Blame Men!

Men are not the reason that you are not a Good Wife and a Good Mother.

You can have a terrible husband, but still be a Good Wife and a Good Mother. Your husband should be able to say: “I have been a terrible husband, but she has always been a Good Wife and a Good Mother.”

Florida eliminated permanent alimony. This is perhaps not much, but finally things are moving. There is broad agreement now that divorce law needs major changes. There is not so much agreement on what those changes should be, which is a topic that I would like to get back to, perhaps with the help of a real divorce lawyer.

Divorce law, and related laws including domestic violence (Duluth Model), “sexual assault/harassment” etc., are State laws. Everyone should write a letter to their State congressional representatives at least once a year. They actually read them, and often give a personalized reply. Some policies, such as police treatment of “domestic violence” cases, are Local law. We actually have democracy, for now, so use it. Get up off your ass.

Here are the details in Florida.

https://communitylawfirm.com/florida-alimony-reforms-2023

Not that long ago — in the 1950s and 1960s — “dating,” or the pattern of premarital sex that replaced the Courtship pattern, was something that you did for a few years before getting married around Age 21. By the 1990s, it was taking a lot longer than that, but still 92% of White women did get married.

Today, “dating” is increasingly seen as a trackless swamp that has no exit.

Yes, this is largely because women are chasing the Top 5% of men, especially on dating apps, that are not likely to get married at all (or they would already be married and wouldn’t be on dating apps to begin with). Also, it is because women overtly prefer those men who are not marriage-minded, aka “bad boys,” passing by those that are. Although much of the problem is women’s behavior itself, nevertheless, it isn’t working.

Women used to get married before having sex. And, this process did not take very long. You either got married, or the courtship would end, commonly within about six months. And once you got married, you typically, or ideally, did not have to work outside the house ever again! How’s that for “having your needs taken care of”?

But women aren’t really ever going to figure this stuff out. They can complain about the results, but as always, men will have to fix it. Mostly, this will be their fathers, if they have fathers. Or, it will be other men telling them what to do — church pastors, perhaps — and setting up institutions to facilitate marriages.

It should be clear by now that women just make bad decisions over and over again. They seem to come to their senses around Age 30, but by then it is too late.

I met a woman last week that seemed like one of those who deserves a decent husband.

She said outright that she wanted six children. 8/10 for looks. 10/10 for charm. (Very charming!) From an upper-middle or outright upper-class family. She is 37.

Now, it might be that she spent the years 16-32 on a cycle of whoring. Maybe all the promising men in her circle know this. But, maybe not. Someone should be picking up these gems.