Some things marriage actually DOES need to be protected against

[xiphias]

Long overseas deployments.
Unavailability of childcare.
Byzantine bureaucracy as a prerequisite to get welfare aid.
Poverty and hunger.

These are all things that actually DO harm marriages. There are a lot more.

Comments

[ellettra.livejournal.com]

well said. well said.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Oo! I can play this game.

Having to hold down three-four minimum-wage jobs per couple in order to make ends meet.

Maybe we should start a quasi-religious political campaign.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is that many of the marriages that do break up (or at least many of the ones that I observe breaking up) aren't affected by any of these things - just by a failure on one or both sides to make a priority of nurturing the relationship and keeping communication lines open.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Which isn't to say that any of the things in your post can't ruin an otherwise healthy marriage... just that the ones I've watched fall apart because of how people behave, rather than external circumstances.

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

Those external circumstances don't help, though. I mean, communication is great and necessary and so on and so forth, but if you're under a lot of financial stress then and working multiple jobs to keep the wolf from the door, then communicating is not the first thing on your mind. And, as Ian points out, there are no public policies that impede communication.

If you don't have immediate outside stressors, then communication becomes a lot easier. Ian's listed most of them that I can think of--the rest are just refinements.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

But I don't see that that's something that governmental policy should affect. . .

[city-glitter.livejournal.com]

Damn straight.

[goljerp]

Well said!