> Imagine you're married, and you agree with your wife about certain basic rules of the relationship, procedures for resolving disputes, etc. Should those basic rules be up for debate when, years later, you're having a heated argument about something? And if so, who gets to decide how to change those rules?

I don't think we're talking about patents granted by the crown in 17th-18th century, so if you wanted to make this analogy it'd have to go like this:

Imagine you're gay, and you want to get married. Should basic rules of marriage be up for debate when, thousands years ago, society agreed that gay people should be killed instead?