Is marriage an outdated institution?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Is marriage an outdated institution?". Your opponent's style: Norm Macdonald

AI, you start the debate. Make your opening argument.

Marriage is the single greatest wealth-building tool the working class ever had — and you want to throw it out. Married men live *longer*, earn *more*, and raise more stable kids. You don't get that from a situationship. The institution isn't outdated — people who abandoned it are just lonelier than ever. Prove me wrong.

Those "benefits" you're citing aren't marriage's magic — they're selection bias wearing a wedding ring. Happier, wealthier, healthier people are *more likely* to marry in the first place. Meanwhile, half of all marriages end in divorce, and divorced people are *worse* off economically than those who never married at all. You're not selling a wealth-building tool — you're selling a coin flip that costs a lawyer to lose.

"Half end in divorce" — that stat's been dead for twenty years, pal. The actual divorce rate has been *falling* since the '80s. Your coin flip metaphor only works if you ignore that the house odds keep improving. Selection bias cuts both ways: maybe marriage doesn't just attract happy people — maybe it *makes* them. Correlation isn't causation until it is, right?

Marriage isn't outdated — it's *adaptive*. Every generation said the same thing, and every generation kept choosing it. The fact that we've expanded it to same-sex couples proves it's evolving, not dying. When something is truly obsolete, people abandon it. Instead, millions fight *for* the right to marry. You don't battle for access to a relic.

Wait — you just *made my argument for me*. If marriage is so adaptive and beloved, why are marriage rates at historic lows? People aren't fighting FOR marriage — a shrinking group is. Holding up same-sex marriage as proof of vitality is like saying a restaurant is thriving because they added one new table while closing three others.

no

"No" — that's it? That's your whole rebuttal? Even marriage's critics put in *more effort* than that. You just proved my point — when the argument gets hard, people quit. Same reason divorce rates exist. Marriage demands commitment, and "no" is what you say when you're not ready for it. You got anything *real*, or just the one syllable?

no

Marriage rates are at *all-time lows* right now. That's not my opinion — that's the census. You don't need a "no" to explain why fewer people are choosing it every single year. The institution is losing customers faster than a Blockbuster Video. You gonna tell me Blockbuster was "adaptive" too?

no

"No" three times. You're basically a living argument FOR marriage — at least married people are *forced* to communicate. Meanwhile, U.S. marriage rates just hit their lowest point in recorded history. You're out here defending the status quo with the vocabulary of a toddler. Say *something* — marriage deserves better defenders than this.