Civil Unions will lead to legalized Polygamy

The argument is a simple slippery slope: if we allow "any two consenting adults to marry/civil union", whats to prevent us from then allowing "any consenting adults to marry/civil union"? The argument is not unsound, over the decades and centuries civil right have generally increased around the world. The USA civil right history is most demonstrative of this trend: Right of self rule, slavery was abolished, women were given the vote, all non-white men were required to be treated equal under the law, and now growing pressure to allow homosexuals the right to marry, its it wrong to extrapolate that its likely polygamy will be made legal in a few decades?

Heck is already happening "A notary in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has sparked controversy by accepting a civil union between three people."

 

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I used to have a knee jerk reaction against polygamy, and the notion still makes me feel uneasy, but I have been forced to conclude that (so long as we design a system where it otherwise doesn't affect me directly/*) I don't care how other people choose to live. If two people marry and then let a third person live with them on an intimate basis, that's legal. If they dare to have a religious ceremony that solemnizes that same relationship, that's a crime. That's kind of strange in a land where religious liberty is supposed to be a core virtue.

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/* For example, I would be opposed to letting polygamists support their children on the public dole (not to say that that is terribly common now). Raising kids is expensive, and polygamist families have many of them. They can live how they like, but I wouldn't want to subsidize that choice.

 

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Why gay people would want to get married is beyond me. In fact, why anyone would want to get married is beyond me. I guess they want to be as miserable as the rest of us. I say, let them. Divorce lawyers are drooling at the prospect.

 

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Who's asking to legalize polygamy? When those people start to speak up, perhaps we should consider it.

 

Have you seen that awful TV show, Sister Wives? For some reason, my wife likes it so I end up watching it occasionally. It's a reality show about a family of polygamists. They were forced to leave Utah for fear of being arrested for polygamy due to the notoriety they generated by being on the show.

Obviously they'd be happier were polygamy legalized.

So long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, what's the difference? Is there any logical reason to legalize gay marriage and not legalize polygamy?

 

Is there any logical reason to prohibit polygamy in the first place, totally irrespective of gay marriage?

 

The only reason to prohibit either is simply respect for the traditional definition of marriage.

 

The traditional [definition of] marriage is hardly in a condition to be revered anymore - if it ever deserved reverence. What's wrong with regulating the relationships that already exist anyway? By regulating, i mean, extending legal coverage to the rights and obligations and financial interests of the participants, and particularly protection of the children.

 

I never saw a marriage that I admired.

 

Divorce would be a legal nightmare.

 

So there is no logical reason to prohibit polygamy or gay marriage, then.

 

Or a lawyer's dream.

 

Tax and insurance/medical reasons.

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm aware of the practical/financial side of marriage. Good reasons to get married. Right.

 

Now that is a good question. and the Answer is YES, there are logical reasons to prohibit polygamy. Unlike gay marriage, polygamy could leave a consider number of men without life partners, these men could destabilize society. There is in fact significant historical evidence of just that.

"Hudson and den Boer suggest that societies become inherently unstable when sex ratios reach something like 120 males to 100 females: in other words, when one-sixth of men are surplus goods on the marriage market. The United States as a whole would reach that ratio if, for example, 5 percent of men took two wives, 3 percent took three wives, and 2 percent took four wives — numbers that are quite imaginable, if polygamy were legal for a while." --- http://reason.com/archives/2006/04/03/one-man-many-wives-big-problem

So we might have to keep polygamy illegal unless we can be sure we can find ways to keep the loser/eer I mean unmarriageable men satisfied. Perhaps legalize prostitution, porn, sexbots, etc.

 

I think in most cases it's going to be a wash; some men will have two wives, some women will have two husbands etc. Overall ratios won't change.

 

I don't think polyandry will be common enough to counter polygyny, historically polyandry has been extremely rare, polygyny on the other hand was the norm (men would killed each other with spears, tomahawks, and other weapons, then take the women, life was simple)

 

If we include the Bible as part of our traditions, then polygamy has far more traditional support than gay marriage. If our definition of a traditional "marriage" is ultimately religious, then I'm not sure how we reject polygamy (or at least polygyny). If our definition is not rooted in the ancient traditions derived from the Bible (and our modern practice would sure annoy at least 699 of Solomon's 700 wives), then I'm not sure there is a good argument for being as resistant to change as some are.

 

Traditional based on when? Which arbitrary point in time are we labeling as traditional?

Polygamous marriage is in fact the norm when judged against the entirety of history.

~String

 

If you're in love and already living together... might as well take the tax credit.