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As I've watched the story of the FLDS come across this screen on news reports and message boards like this one, the same question continues to bubble to the surface for me.

If the authorities in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere know that polygamists are living within their borders WHY ON EARTH do they not arrest these folks based on the polygamy ITSELF?

Am I the only one who thinks this? Am I thinking at all?

Jersey Girl wrote:As I've watched the story of the FLDS come across this screen on news reports and message boards like this one, the same question continues to bubble to the surface for me.

If the authorities in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere know that polygamists are living within their borders WHY ON EARTH do they not arrest these folks based on the polygamy ITSELF?

Am I the only one who thinks this? Am I thinking at all?

They do the same thing as the early Mormons.

TECHNICALLY, they are only married to one woman. As far as the state authorities can legally see, they have one wife and a whole mess of "girlfriends" with whom they do have sex.

Again, just like the early Mormons(the ones who are held in high regard by LDS), the FLDS feel that they are above the laws of the land and so their spechul temple marriages are more important than some silly one based on local laws.

Additionally, I believe that some FLDS will marry a different wife in each of the four states and that is why they are located near the "four corners" area of UT, AZ, NM, and CO.

Jersey Girl wrote:As I've watched the story of the FLDS come across this screen on news reports and message boards like this one, the same question continues to bubble to the surface for me.

If the authorities in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere know that polygamists are living within their borders WHY ON EARTH do they not arrest these folks based on the polygamy ITSELF?

Am I the only one who thinks this? Am I thinking at all?

As a long-time resident of Utah and Arizona who personally knows several polygamists and whose wife comes from a polygamist family, I can tell you that I think there are four major reasons. First, many LDS feel great sympathy for the polygamists and see many parallels between the polygamists and the LDS. Second, many LDS males who are unhappy in their marriages look forward to polygamy in the Celestial Kingdom when they think they'll get wives who are nice to them. These males think the polygamists have it made. Third -- and perhaps most important -- it's harder than heck to prove polygamy because it's so hard to get the plural wives to testify against their husbands. Fourth, there are so many polygamists that some officials think the costs of taking care of the split up families and incarcerating all those guys would be too expensive.

James Clifford Miller
millerjamesc@cox.net

Jersey Girl wrote:As I've watched the story of the FLDS come across this screen on news reports and message boards like this one, the same question continues to bubble to the surface for me.

If the authorities in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere know that polygamists are living within their borders WHY ON EARTH do they not arrest these folks based on the polygamy ITSELF?

Am I the only one who thinks this? Am I thinking at all?

Polygamy is only illegal if the parties attempt to be legally married. Smart polygamists skip the legal ceremony for all but the first wife.

Okay, the results are in. I wasn't thinking! Thanks for pointing out how much I missed the forest for the trees.

So what you're all saying is that safe from prosecution so long as they're shacking.

Got it.

Jersey Girl wrote:Okay, the results are in. I wasn't thinking! Thanks for pointing out how much I missed the forest for the trees.

So what you're all saying is that safe from prosecution so long as they're shacking.

Got it.

If you've been watching Larry King Live at all on CNN recently, you've seen a number of FLDS women being interviewed (and some men). They are very careful to say they "aren't wives," but are the "mother of his children," and that there's "no marriage." That sort of thing. They're obviously very carefully taught what to say and what not to say in order to not land in hot water.

I'm sure they consider their plural marriages just as valid and binding as any other legally recognized by the state, but they don't go through legal channels to make them.

Does it make for a nightmare for welfare issues for the state? Obviously.

One woman on Larry King Live earlier this week was parsing her words so carefully I thought she'd have a seizure, trying to explain how "the father of her children" lives in another state and they don't live together, but they talk all the time about the children, and she'll always love him, even though there's "no marriage."

Same thing when they're being asked how young girls are "getting married." It's clear they're walking a very fine line in responding to these questions, since technically these underage girls are not being officially legally "married" (just prostituted). Larry King asked a group of FLDS women and a man this week if any of them had ever seen underage girls having sex. Hello? Who would say yes to that? Talk about asking the question wrong.

Prosecuting polygamy is very complicated, in the absence of evidence that more than one legal marriage is taking place per person.

I'm sure the state of Texas would at least like to sort out legal/biological parentage of these children going forward, but whether or not it will be able to remains to be seen.

So, the one thing that's eminently clear in all this is that FLDS have no difficulty whatever with being publicly dishonest in order to cover their own behinds.

If you've been watching Larry King Live at all on CNN recently, you've seen a number of FLDS women being interviewed (and some men). They are very careful to say they "aren't wives," but are the "mother of his children," and that there's "no marriage." That sort of thing. They're obviously very carefully taught what to say and what not to say in order to not land in hot water.

So what you're saying is that they're self disclosed fornicators.

So here is the question of the day...

What is the difference between the FLDS polygamy and that of the present LDS church?

The FLDS women are saying they are not legally married to the men, they don't live with them, and the guy is just the father of her children.

In the LDS church there are men who are not legally married to more than one wife but ARE IN FACT sealed to multiple women who are alive and well right here on the Earth. (Just ask all the women who have tried to get a sealing cancellation from their X husbands). :-(

How the LDS can say they no longer practice spiritual polygamy is just plain not true... They believe in it, practice it, and embrace it.

~dancer~

Jersey Girl wrote:

If you've been watching Larry King Live at all on CNN recently, you've seen a number of FLDS women being interviewed (and some men). They are very careful to say they "aren't wives," but are the "mother of his children," and that there's "no marriage." That sort of thing. They're obviously very carefully taught what to say and what not to say in order to not land in hot water.

So what you're saying is that they're self disclosed fornicators.

Oh, I think they think they're married in the eyes of God, but not the state, and they're very careful to dance around it all to make it look like they're virtuous nonetheless.

Larry King just doesn't know the right questions to ask. He should try these:

1) Does anyone in your community ever have sex?

2) How are young women in your community prepared for marriage, childbirth and child-rearing?

3) Are you all sealed for time and all eternity to your spouses?

4) Do you regard a "sealing" and a "marriage" as different things?

5) How do you share child-rearing responsibilities with sister-wives?

6) Is there ever a reason you feel you have to be careful with your answers or not answer questions directly?

and edited to add this one:

7) Is sex outside of marriage forbidden in your community?

harmony wrote:

Jersey Girl wrote:As I've watched the story of the FLDS come across this screen on news reports and message boards like this one, the same question continues to bubble to the surface for me.

If the authorities in Texas, Colorado and elsewhere know that polygamists are living within their borders WHY ON EARTH do they not arrest these folks based on the polygamy ITSELF?

Am I the only one who thinks this? Am I thinking at all?

Polygamy is only illegal if the parties attempt to be legally married. Smart polygamists skip the legal ceremony for all but the first wife.

Is there an echo in here?