Why Free Love failed

Human beings are the only species that will actually look for a more complicated way of doing things when the simpler and more convenient way will suffice.The traditional marriage relationship is seen as what makes us "civilized",it's upheld by religious and societal dogma and in spite of the tumultuous sexual revolution and the free love generation of the 60's and 70's, it not survives,but thrives.Why is this so?I remember the big scare of that day was that society would erode if our traditional values weren't upheld and the sanctity of marriage wasn't preserved.Is marriage really something sacred?Does God himself really care?Did he really invent it?Let's look closely at the institution and who really benefits.Why did the free love ideals die yet the acceptance of multiple marriages and divorces prevail?Personally I think it's obvious.It has nothing to do with the institution being sacred or holy.It's a business with many peripheral businesses feeding off it.The beleif that marriage is sacred is good advertizement.As long as the myth of the Cinderella marriage is upheld,the image will persist and anyone with a vested interest will profit.

No one enters a marriage believing or expecting it to end in divorce at some point.The couple may not have that in mind but everyone else does.Common statistics and the law of averages doom the marriage before it gets off the ground good.Divorce lawyers (many of whom may already be accquainted with the couple socially) will be waiting,counseling services (required in some states with a divorce) and anyone else who may profit from the break up.Then the cycle starts again,the new divorcees will each seek a new partner,thus supporting more peripheral businesses,they'll get married,profiting those businesses and so on and on....

Any wonder why free love failed?No one could make money from it.

I think it's all about the kids. Once kids enter the fray laws are enacted to protect the kids as best as possible.

Fray laws?I'm not familiar with that term.

Fray (take a big breath, a pause, a moment to ponder, a brief rest, momentary stasis, etc...) pause, then continue the sentence.

OK,that defines fray,what laws were enacted?

Alimony was institutionalized to protect the kids and mom. In the Mormon world, there are allegations that as the young boys become young men they are considered competition to the over-indulgent middle-aged narcissistic over the hill mucous filled "dads" who must destroy all competition and many times simply kick the boy out even if he is just a young teen.

Yep, blame mormons who believe in polygamy for our overly structured system.

Didn't know the mormons made that kind of impact.For an interesting look at divorce laws,there is a book,avialble through an underground bookstore in Sacramento (SF books I think it's called),titled "Screw the Bitch [img]biggrin.gif[/img] ivorce Tactics in America".Despite the mysogynistic title,it's a very good book with lots of survival information for the man who finds himself at the mercy of an unscrupulous ex.Basically the alimony laws came out in the day whe,women couldn't vote,get an education or have a decent job.Times have changed,women are no longer helpless and it's the responsibility of BOTH parents to raise the children,regardless of whether or not they are together.

Maybe the mormons didn't make that kind of impact, but, there are no female heads of households with multiple husbands, and it's inevitable that a guy with several wives will want to make sure that none of his sons interfere in any way as they mature.

So Free love, in my opinion, would eventually turn into either a mormon type of servitude, or men would begin offering more and more of a dowry to "secure" the women they admired, loved, lusted, respected the most, which kind of puts us where we currently are, although I think the alimony aspect has never been "adjusted" in a downard manner in this day and age.