[quote=AN][quote=jeff303]Why, indeed? You’re probably right about the level of support. As far as I’m concerned though, if the logistics could be worked out, I’d be all for it.[/quote]What logistic? I personally think polygamy should be legal as well, along w/ gay marriage. If this decision is about restoring people’s right, then why are we not applying it for an even smaller minority w/in our population? I bet if you poll all the supporter of gay marriage, my bet is most would say no to polygamy. Which annoys me, because that show their hypocrisy.[/quote]
Polygamy is one thing in the desert of Southern Utah, where the “wives” are each given a role and the roles differ slightly year to year. A good example is older “wives” working at truck stops and mini-marts on the highways all bringing home money to a family of often 30+ members and younger “wives” (pregnant or possibly nursing) staying back at the family compound to take care of everyone’s minor children. Those “compounds” are largely self-sufficient. The “patriarch” usually owns the land outright (inherited or purchased) and owes little property taxes (if any) because he often leases some of it back to the state. He and the teen/adult members build and maintain all of their residential and barn buildings on that land and bring in their own utilities/septic.
For the most part, polygamist communities in UT are NOT on public aid (except for Medicaid for some members and the occasional temporary WIC recipient).
Legalized polygamy in a much more expensive CA coastal county would end up being an unmitigated disaster for local and state goverments because EVERY CHILD would likely qualify for TANF and Medi-Cal and EVERY MOM would likely apply for it (as well as Section 8, etc) purely out of necessity.
Imagine the State Dept of Child Support Services trying to collect aid payments from ONE PAYOR to reimburse themselves for aid to 23 children (with 5 different moms).
You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip.
So, my opinion is that polygamy is fine when practiced in the middle of nowhere where this population has the land and numbers to be largely self sufficient and the population is sparse so it doesn’t matter if they overpopulate themselves. But I don’t want to see women traipsing through the streets of SD with a baby strapped to their chest and 3-4 more young children in tow and the bottom third of their long skirt filthy from sleeping under bridges or in Balboa Park because they’ve just been evicted from their house/apt …. again.
