Friday, April 18, 2008

Tired of Crud? Vote Judd!

Finally, some excitement has entered the Campaign. Voters in Idaho now have a real choice... Hillary, Osama... or Judd. (Thanks for the heads up, Norm!)

This blog has decided to donate some space as the official "Judd's Yer Budd" website.
So... here's the space:


Persecution or Prosecution





Disclaimer: I am a Mormon. I do not support the practice of polygamy as a religious proscription. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the real Mormons) have not condoned the practice for over a hundred years. In fact, the Church has very diligently cleansed itself of polygamous sympathizers. I do not sympathize with the FLDS group (a breakaway from the Church at about the time the Church stopped the practice) in that I do not think that they are doctrinally correct by practicing polygamy.

Having said all that, what is occurring in Texas is religious persecution. The phone call was all that was needed for authorities to sweep in with all the firepower and grand standing of Waco and kidnap children and women, virtually putting an end to an unpopular religious sect. If they were really worried about the sexual abuse, they would have carefully sought out the men and mothers who were actively participatory in such abuse, and left the rest alone. But no. In all their religious zeal, social workers, law enforcement officers, and Baptist bus drivers "rescued" these poor, misguided, 19th Century homemakers and children from a life of protection against the outside evils of the world, throwing them instead into our "enlightened" society with its permissive promiscuity, wink-wink religiosioty, and "our young'uns' well-being is so important to us we leave them with a stranger 10 hours a day so we can afford our brick-and-granite mansions with no yard just to keep up with the Joneses" mentality.

It is interesting that we forbid gay marriage, but we permit homosexual and adulterous activities, fraught with dangerous diseases, broken families and bastardized children, and child sexual abuse; yet we outlaw polygamy, the emphasis of which is about strengthening and supporting the family and caring for children. Yes, it carries with it the potential for child abuse as is alleged in this case, but so does any relationship where children are involved. Child abuse happens. It should be pursued and prosecuted to the full extent of the law, because we do not like child abusers. Children are special and sacred.

I am not advocating that we should sanction polygamy, just as I do not advocate that we should sanction homosexual marriage. Marriage is between one man and one woman. But we do not outlaw homosexual activity, nor even adulterous activity. Why do we outlaw polygamy? Because we are a religiously intolerant people. We have our First Amendment, and sometimes it means something. But majority religions have always felt threatened by minority religions. So as long we keep such statutes on the books, we can summon the power of the State to swoop in to put an end to these unpopular sects and organizations that challenge any beliefs with we have become so comfortable.

When the Church fought the anti-bigamy laws in the courts, they argued First Amendment issues. Today, there is a stronger case for Fourteenth Amendment Equal Protection arguments. It will be interesting to see how all this plays out. I can see Supreme Court arguments on the matter. Although I do not know whether they would prevail, I think they could be very compelling.

The Numbers Are In