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[Artemise]

Recently some attention has been brought to the polygamous clans here in the US, Colorado City, Arizona and Hilldale, Utah. (Google search: Colorado City, polygamous clans) These are not small groups, but entire towns.

Right here in the US there are existng clans, large, rich and it appears powerful, where men (old men) take several wives, often underage and often of the same family, having as many children as these women can bear them (the founder had/has 80 children) Officials have so far looked the other way because polygamy is difficult to prosecute and these folks (the patriarchs) have a lot of money, owning every business for miles and various other large investments US wide.

Children are only educated to grade school levels, and when the patriarchs get their eye on a girl she is forced to marry and bear, usually just of breeding age. They are taught to obey men without question, their cycles tabulated. Pedophilia and child sex abuse is rampant.
The clans claim to be direct decendants to Christ, so inbreeding is advocated and planned. Its worse...the founder did some studies on cattle, and the entire clans are bred in this way, sometimes running young women across the border for trade with another clan in B.C.,Canada, called Bountiful. There is no ability for these girls to decline marriage, or the breeding, unless they escape, but instead, problematic females are often sent to internal 'farms' for 'correction'.

There is now an underground railroad trying to help these girls get out, often frightened by the real world of ..well..everything, since books and television etc are extremely censured in the towns and the education levels so low.

Some escapees are now prosecuting their abusers, to shed light on this; for statutory rape, incest or anything else they can find legally, because the marriages are 'spiritual marriages' and non-prosecutable by law, the 'forced' polygamy being too hard to prove.

There is also another group of women within the clans who are lobbying for polygamy to be legalized. Their arguement is 1.) religious freedom 2.) that polygamy focuses males on their true function, claiming the rest of the country suffers divorce, broken homes etc. 3.) that they are thinking human beings able to discern what is right and wrong for themselves.

Heres the clincher. Taxes pay for a good part of all these families to birth, live and subsist. A large part of these women and children collect welfare and benefits, because they are considered by the state to be single mothers and many live below poverty level, because the wealth belongs to the patriarchs.
"Polygamy, she said, is "the biggest con game going. The men up there are fat and happy, smiling. They've got all the women they want, all the sex, and the government pays for their children." Link at bottom.


It gets even uglier. Young men often are forced out of the clans to go live in the cities, with little education and no way to survive except the basic wage, because the patriarchs do not allow them to advance quickly enough, and take the youngest women/girls for themselves.

This link has the most history:

http://www.rickross.com/groups/polygamy.html


It has been suggested that we have what could easily be viewed as a 'Taliban' type situation, or a child/female slavery ring right here in the US, subjecting them to lack of education, forced marriage and breeding, AND trading them off into Canada to keep the gene line pure but less corrupted. The other side of the coin: that religious freedom being guaranteed in the US, these folks have a perfect right to their practices.

My questions:

How do you view this? Religious freedom or abuse and slavery? Is this acceptable in the USA?

Is it ok for citizens to support this with our taxes?

Depending on your answer, what should be done?

I would like to add that the Mormons have been persecuted since the 1800's for their views, were basically ousted from the east coast and founded themselves communities in the west where they could practice freely. In the 1960's, authorities went in; there were media shots of children being taken from mothers, etc, which caused extreme public opposition.
I dont expect these patriarchs will disappear but go underground.

I myself would like to see HUGE pressure put to the Gov. of Arizona, Utah for tight surveillance on these clans and social work done in the communities, education enforced to high school levels and supervised.
I understand each ones rights to choose their lifestyle, but where does choice end and slavery begin?

This post has been edited by Artemise: Nov 6 2003, 10:34 AM

[Artemise]

My I interject, that this is NOT a discussion of whether polygamy is right or wrong, but whether the behavior of THESE PARTICULAR clans is acceptable, and their abuses tolerated within the borders of the USA, based on religious freedom.
IE: That these girls need an underground to escape? Etc.

This post has been edited by Artemise: Nov 6 2003, 05:53 AM