The history of traditional marriage

[Jesus Smasher]

Throughout history people change, it's a fact of life and it shows our consciousness really. If people didn't change or adapt then they would slip into a regress and we might have grown extinct millions of years ago. But we press on, and from the dawn of our existence, from the fossils of Lucy three million years ago to now, we keep coming across evidence that people have this bond they share. Humanity is sharing, it's one of the many things that brought man to this time and place. Were we polygamous creatures, or were we monogamous? Which is more beneficial? Which is really right? My stance is that it is no one's business to press what you can or cannot be on an individual but their own. This life is yours to do with what you want. Therefore, if you choose a polygamous lifestyle and you don't violate my rights that is your choice, and you should be free to make it.
What is Polygamy though? According to the Dictionary "[It is a] marriage in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time. " Being that it is a form of marriage you would also need a definition of marriage, which can also be found in the Dictionary. "[Marriage is] the state of being united in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law." Recently American lawmakers decided to intervene and make the definition more precise. According to the Defense of Marriage Act also known as PUBLIC LAW 104–199—enacted on SEPT. 21, of 1996 by the 104th Congress. Section 3 Defines Marriage as: ‘‘A legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife" (U.S. Cong: Defense of Marriage Act) While it may be law now there are still many that practice polygamy in the America's primarily those of the fundamentalist Mormon church.
This is where the idea 'polygamy' has taken a serious turn for the worse. Children are placed into arranged marriages by their parents and often arrange for many girls to marry one spouse, as in the case of Elissa Wall. Whom in her book "Stolen Innocence" says "I was a fourteen-year-old girl hoping for a miracle of divine intervention[..] I’d submitted to the will of our prophet and married my nineteen-year old first cousin[,] as a member on the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints" (Wall 1). This kind of treatment towards children in polygamous sects can be compared to that of the Islamic arranged marriages of children. In the Islamic religion “Child marriage denotes the contracting or consummation of a marriage in which one or both partners are underage[..] Sexual maturity could also be acknowledged at the age of 9 or even 8 for girls and 12 for boys” (Suad 57). Even more sadly in America this leads to “organized criminal behavior [as] a hallmark of many polygamist organizations, including welfare fraud, tax evasion, extortion, kidnapping and transporting victims across state lines" (Reid Victims of Polygamy Assistance Act).
Perhaps this is because it is illegal to be involved in polygamous marriages in America though, so you have the criminal weirdo's involved in the polygamous movement. U.S. Senator Russell D. Feingold believes firmly that the federal government has no business in marriage, he is quoted as saying: "I believe a constitutional amendment on marriage is unnecessary, divisive, and utterly inconsistent with our constitutional traditions, which this Subcommittee has a special responsibility to protect. I object to the use of the constitutional amendment process for political purposes" (Feingold JUDICIAL ACTIVISM VS. DEMOCRACY) Feingold doesn't stand alone in this idea, Bob Barr of The Washington Post said: “I am a firm believer that the Constitution is no place for forcing social policies on states" (Barr Leave Marriage to the States).
So how could polygamy be a good thing? First off, people are naturally polygamous. "‘We may think of ourselves as a monogamous species, but we're coming from an evolutionary history that's probably slightly polygamous,’ said researcher Associate Professor Michael Hammer" and "If we're shifting toward monogamy, it's so recent it hasn't left an imprint in our genome" (Viegas, Why Polygamous..), said Jennifer Viegas Discovery News. Secondly, It's healthy. According to Virpi Lummaa, an ecologist at the University of Sheffield, UK "After accounting for socioeconomic differences, men aged over 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy to varying degrees lived on average 12% longer than men from 49 mostly monogamous nations" In the article they go on to account for the longevity of life "because they're fertile well into their grey years[.. These]Men who continue fathering kids into their 60s and 70s could take better care for their bodies because they have mouths to feed" (Callaway Polygamy is the key to a long life).
So polygamy seems like it could work if you didn't have people violating other people's rights to live this lifestyle. Thomas Jefferson said in the Declaration of Independence that “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness," and he was right. It is no one's place but the individuals to determine who they can or can't share their love with, this is all done in the pursuit of happiness. This is a time to be more accepting, not more closed minded.

[Engyo]

Originally Posted by Jayhawker Soule

While the ability to Cut-n-Paste is no doubt laudable, why would one title a thread the "history of traditional marriage" and serve up a blog on "modern civil marriage"?

Well, Jay, because the post describes the history of how what is most often termed "traditional" marriage in our society came about, that's why. Does this not make sense to you?