We in developed countries take for granted the relative ease of starting a business and the existence of a uniform property rights system--you can buy a house in Idaho and get financing for it from a bank in London or Hong Kong.

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While the definition of marriage is still left to the states, they say, the federal government has stepped in before to enforce order, as when it declared uniform national policy on death taxes regardless of whether states had community-property laws or common-law marriage.

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