A Lack Of Commitment

My new Daily Standard column is up today, titled “Exit Strategies”. It looks at the lack of commitment in evidence today in what used to be our most basic social model — marriage — and how that lack of commitment gets reflected in our politics.
This started as a post last week (“Sometimes And Whenever”) about the increasing popularity of vows that avoid lifetime commitments. We covered this topic on the Northern Alliance Radio Network last Saturday as well. We had a lot of fun trying to predict the next variation of marriage that would lower the commitment level even less than that of today. Some suggestions:
* One-year contracts with mutual renewable options (sports fans would love these)
* Pre-paid marriage cards — if things are going well, just put some more time on them
* Cell phone minutes — sort of like the pre-paid cards, only you get your weekend minutes for free. (Big penalties for roaming, however.)
If you have any other suggestions, leave them in the comments!