This is a question for anyone that considers themselves blue pill, purple pill, or anything other than red pill.

What we are first going to do is deconstruct what power is. What is really meant by power in this situation is leverage.

Leverage - The power to influence a person or situation.

The question is then "Why give leverage to your partner?"

Before we go further, we must deal with the inevitable complications that are inherent to this question.

Anything in a relationship can be defined as an economical interaction. The equation to an economical interaction from your perspective is [What they give you] - [What you give them] = X

X is simply the outcome. Either a net benefit or a net loss.

You can of course plug in anything to this equation. You are nice to them, they are nice to you. They give you everything while you give them nothing. You plan a spontaneous trip, they moan and groan about it.

What needs to be understood at this point in time is that you end up deriving some sort of benefit from your actions when you fulfill your part of the equation which is [What you give them]. In essence, you are not really donating [What you give them], you are trading [What you give them] for [What they give you].

This is a very important subtlety which is critical to this question.

What I am asking is "Why would you donate leverage to your partner?"

This is the question that needs answering. Once you have answered that, there can be discussion about the following type scenarios.

If you have a big bank account, and you serve to derive an incrementally marginal benefit from giving your partner access to your bank account, why would you do it?

(Assuming you make more money than your SO): If your life with your partner is great and your relationship would not be solidified very much by tying the knot (on top of how solid it already is), what purpose does donating the leverage that your SO can take half your stuff upon divorce serve? Or what purpose does