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I'm just curious, because I think anyone that wants more than one spouse is clinically insane, but what is the compelling state interest in banning polygamy?
Anti-gay marriage threads often list this as a potential "slippery slope" consequence of permitting gay marriage (along with a lot of other things that are just ridiculous).
Why should the government care if people want to be in a "plural marriage?"
Please don't respond with "because it changes the traditional definition of marriage", because that's just not really an argument.
Well what basically happened is the men who support multiple women often have trouble affording them so you need a cast system or some form of income stream that does not come from the man himself. In tropical climates it was less of a problem since this economic bottle neck was much less. Another way that allows it is if women have economic output of their own. However eventually you end up with disenfranchised bachelor clans so you either need an oppressive regime with religions dogma like radical Islam or Mormons. They are usually violent societies as well. Animals that pair off nicely tend to not have mate access warfare unlike elephant seals or lions.
I'm just curious, because I think anyone that wants more than one spouse is clinically insane, but what is the compelling state interest in banning polygamy?
Anti-gay marriage threads often list this as a potential "slippery slope" consequence of permitting gay marriage (along with a lot of other things that are just ridiculous).
Why should the government care if people want to be in a "plural marriage?"
Please don't respond with "because it changes the traditional definition of marriage", because that's just not really an argument.
Why are those people clinically insane? Unless you are lucky enough to have found the perfect match, thinking of other women or men will sooner or later become hard to avoid anyway. Maybe there are kids, so you don't want to get divorces because of them.
Actually, allowing polygamy would be altering marriage closer to its traditional roots.
How so? Marriage was first defined as 2 people, 1 male--1 female.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Neuling
Why are those people clinically insane? Unless you are lucky enough to have found the perfect match, thinking of other women or men will sooner or later become hard to avoid anyway. Maybe there are kids, so you don't want to get divorces because of them.
My wife and I will celebrate 15 years together next year. I can honestly say I love her more today than the day I married her. I wouldn't trade that for anything. We dated less than a year before we got married, but we have made the conscious decision to love each other, and our relationship has grown deeper than we ever could have imagined. It's a mindset...not just chemistry.
I see LOTs of problems with it, just none that ought to be any of the government's business.
Isn't it more so the tax/economic issues, in addition to the inevitable inequality of the multiples in the marriage?
Hammertime has pointed it out before, but if a military veteran married multiple women, he would get multiple spousal bonuses that 2 person couples don't get.
I think the legal and financial challenges are the big issue. Although I agree with you, I view someone who would to as rather insane, but that's because I'm a jealous person and could never share my partner.
So it's okay for you to be a monogamist,
but not for me to believe that marriage is between one man and one woman.
Alrightie, then.
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