That’s a distinct possibility. Despite the fact that the traditional monogamous nuclear family is the most stable and healthy environment in which to raise the next generation of citizens, people tend to find reasonable, rational, boring choices like that “restrictive”.
Fascinatingly enough, late Republic-era Rome dealt with similar social ills. Rampant divorce, adultery, bastardy, and the destruction of the nuclear family went hand-in-hand with the downfall of the Republic. The traditional freedoms enjoyed by the people were soon abrogated and the nation fell under the sway of a long line of power-mad dictators and self-proclaimed emperors. As a matter of fact, the first emperor quickly outlawed adultery and enshrined legal protections for marriage, citing the need for a strong state built of strong citizens that were in turn built by strong families.
There’s a lesson there for the modern west. John Adams summed it up by saying that our constitution was written for a moral and righteous people and was utterly insufficient for the governance of any other. The quickest way to lose your freedoms is to lose sight of the essential fact that freedom necessarily arises from responsibility. If you abandon your responsibilities to your mate, your children, your people and your nation in the mistaken belief that “freedom” means simply being free from the consequences of your bad decisions, then soon enough the fragile state of affairs that led to you being allowed to abuse your freedom of choice will collapse under the pressure of a multitude of bad decisions - ultimately setting the stage for perpetual dictatorship.
Indeed.
Makes me think of Jean Jacques Rousseau’s infamous quote concerning his view of a “free” and “just” society
“each citizen would . . . be completely independent of his fellow men, and absolutely dependent upon the state.”
Of course, that would be no true freedom at all but that’s what today’s lefties want.