On what grounds would a liberal be opposed to polygamy?

It was interesting to read all the crap rationalizations that pesky lib logic does that to them.

The lib position on marriage must support polygamy.

Try telling 3 gay men they can't be married. Watch the libs scream homophobe!! right wing nut!! Its Bush's fault.

For me personally, on pretty much no grounds. I don't know why I would care about something like that or want to intervene unless of course someone was invovled against their will, under some kind of duress or abuse but that would always apply to everything else too, so it's not a specific concern unique to polygamy. I feel maybe a tad squeemish about the whole thing but that's just my personal predisposition or maybe even prejudice. I don't necessarily approve of it but yes, I do ultimately think it would be intolerant to oppose it.

Not really sure I have any good explanation for why any other liberal would oppose, in fact not really sure any other liberal does oppose it. Do you know of one?

EDIT: Although Brian B does not state whether he is a liberal or conservative, I think he expresses some valid concerns. I considered the question only morally, not legally, so yeah, there you go, I'm a liberal and those seem like valid concerns to me so I guess those are the grounds on which I would be opposed, but I'm still not automatically opposed, I just think those issues need to be addressed.

Polygamy is equally illegal for all kinds of people. No one is being discriminated against.

It's a terrible social policy. No all laws are about doing what feels good to a single individual. Institutions like polygamy have a vast impact on a society that goes far beyond an individual or group.

Our country has an obligation to protect its weakest and most vulnerable citizens, and those seem to be the type that are attracted to the abuse and neglect that is fostered by the greedy men who like polygamy.

Take a look at the countries that allow it. They all suppress human rights. Progressives are very protective of human rights. Polygamy look more to me like something conservatives would want, or especially libertarians.

Women, especially liberal women, have fought tooth and nail for the last 40 years to protect women from the abuses of marriage. They've put in place laws to give all sorts of benefits and responsibilities to 2 spouses. Most of those protections are thrown out with polygamy. You can't force employers to give medical benefits to multiple wives, for example.

I think monogamy is actually one of the many things that both liberals and conservatives agree on.

Why?

1. Polygamy generally refers to polygyny not polyandry.

2. Because studies have shown women in a polygyny, marriage are at elevated risk of domestic violence and abuse. Polygamy is a male dominated and centered society.

3. Consent. Polgamy does not require the consent of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd whatever number spouse to bring a new spouse into the relationship.

4. Children of polygamous relationships tend to have higher infant mortality rates and lower educational and economic achievements. While I suppose it could be argued that this might level out some if the families did not have to live in secret I doubt with the male dominate society it would change much for female children.

5. Polygamy is very structured and usually people in the societies are married very young to keep them in the societies rather then risk them leaving.

6. It makes a general population ratio imbalance of available male to female ratio. Much like the one child rule in China before long you have to many males for the population.

7. The large families, lower educational attainment tends to raise poverty rates.

I am not opposed to polygamy - but there is no inequality in the law with regards to it - where as there is in regards to same sex marriage.

No person in any jurisdiction anywhere in the US can legally have more than 1 spouse. We don't have laws that permit some people to have more than one spouse of their choosing and prohibit others. So a total ban on any form of plural marriage you might think to be unfair or wrong - but it is not inequality under the law.

But with marriage - we have the state issuing a marriage license to some couples and denying them to others - only on the basis of the gender mix of the couple. So the law permits these two unencumbered consenting adults to form a legal union granting 1000 automatic rights, benefits and protections in law - but not those two. It is inequality in the law by any definition and that is reason enough for anyone (liberal or not) to change things.

But here is a thought experiment - lets say we make plural marriage the law of the land - but only for 1 husband and multiple wives - but deny plural marriage for 1 wife and multiple husbands - or 2 of each - or more than 2 of the same sex, or any other combination of marriage partners for a marriage of more than 2 people. Then we would have inequality in the law and it would need to be fixed.

Often times, liberals oppose freedom of religion, or in some cases, even the existence of religion. Polygamy is often to tied to religious beliefs, so while not all liberals feel that way, many do.

I don't care about polygamy as long as everyone is over the age of 18 and truly consenting. The way it's actually practiced though, is often to enslave children for sex. I have a problem with child sex slaves.

As a liberal, i don't have a issue with that in any respect. i imagine floor 0 can be a fantastic position to have a memorial park and an part of worship for all religions. A church, a synagogue, a mosque, a buddhist temple, a jap tea backyard, etc. which will be representative of all the distinct human beings killed that day.

I am against polygamy primarily because of a few big issues with Polygamy.

1) Polygamy often goes hand in hand with underage girls getting married to older men. It is effectively used as an excuse to skirt statutory laws.

2) In a polygamous relationship where to the legal rights exist between partners? Does a sister wife have the legal authority to make medical decisions on behalf of their sister-child? In the case of survivorship how is an estate split? If a man with multiple wives finds himself ill, which wife gets the ultimate decisions on his care, and what if two wives disagree?

3) If a woman was to divorce out of a polygamous relationship how would alimony work? Does she retain 1/2 of the families wealth? Does she take alimony from her sister-wives as well?

Marriage is based on a two person partnership. If you add in a third or more people, you complicate the legal framework beyond recognition.

Polygamy is a crime against the community. If one man has 4 wives, 3 other men will not be about to have one. And it would be the rich and powerful who got the harems. This would cause a lot of hate and discontent in a society.