The argument against polygamy

[quaoar]

This is an interesting article that explores the implications of polygamy -- an issue prompted by HBO's "Big Love" series. I say interesting because the article does not get into any moral or religious implications. It discusses the egalitarian impact of polygamy -- how polygamy creates a surplus of males unable to marry and how that has prompted, throughout history, regimes to use those males in wars.

http://nationaljournal.com/rauch.htm

"... it should be obvious that polygamy is, structurally and socially, the opposite of same-sex marriage, not its equivalent. Same-sex marriage stabilizes individuals, couples, communities, and society by extending marriage to many who now lack it. Polygamy destabilizes individuals, couples, communities, and society by withdrawing marriage from many who now have it.

As the public focuses on a subject it has not confronted for generations, the hazards of polygamy are likely to sink in. In time, debating polygamy will remind us why our ancestors were right to abolish it. The question is whether the debate will reach its stride soon enough to prevent polygamy from winning a lazy acquiescence that it in no way deserves."