经济学人下载:美国佬的幸福婚姻

来克星敦

Connubial bliss in America

美国佬的幸福婚姻

AMERICA is the country, said Alexis de Tocqueville, where the bonds of marriage are most respected and the concept of connubial bliss “has its highest and truest expression.” If the French aristocrat were to revisit America’s capital today, he might at first glance think his observation had withstood the test of time remarkably well. Not content with having in 1996 put a Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the statute book, Congress has now begun to hold hearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriage in America?

法国历史学家、社会学家阿历克西.德.托克维尔说美国是一个最重视婚姻，最能够诠释也最能真实体现婚姻幸福的国家。如果这位法国贵族如今故地重游，可能他一眼就会发现他的观点可谓经住了时间的考验。早在1996年就颁布了<<婚姻保护法>>的议会并不满足，如今又开始对<<尊重婚姻法案>>举行听证会。那么，无论是保护婚姻也好，尊重婚姻也要罢，什么才是让美国的婚姻现状陷入窘境的罪魁祸首呢?

Plenty. As the revisiting Norman would swiftly discover, Americans today are better at quarrelling about what marriage is and who should be allowed to enjoy its benefits than they are at the more demanding work of getting and staying married themselves. The National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia points to a widening “marriage gap”. Traditional family values are enjoying a revival among better-educated Americans, but are fraying in the lower middle class and have collapsed among the poor. As for laws “defending” and “respecting” marriage, these are merely weapons in a battle that has rolled back and forth for more than a decade between those who say that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry and those who abhor the idea.

个中缘由有很多。若是托克维尔故地重游，他会立马发现，今天的美国更热衷于争论婚姻的含义，争论谁才有资格享受婚姻的权利，并说的头头是道。而对于他们还需要做什么去争取和维系婚姻并不感兴趣。弗吉尼亚大学的国家婚姻工程指出婚姻观念的差距正在不断拉大。传统的家庭价值观在一些受过良好教育的美国公众间又重新兴起，但却在中低等收入阶级中碰壁，而在穷人那儿完全坍塌。至于<<婚姻保护法 >>和<<尊重婚姻法案>>，不过是那些赞成同性婚姻与厌恶同性结合的人之间十多年来，来来回回较量的武器。