Remember Polygamy? It was a huge political issue in the 19th century - and the premise for a crappy HBO series in this century. Prohibiting it in Utah way back when was a condition for statehood. Indeed Congress outlawed it in 1890.
Now it's back in the news with Mormon Mitt Romney running for president. He says he abhors the practice and wants to assure voters that he has no intention of bringing it back.
But my co-blogger
Dinesh D'Souza says that it's coming back, whether we like it or not - courtesy of gay marriage. Without saying so explicitly, he cites the "slippery slope" principle.
I love the slippery slope principle. Without it cable news would be a snooze-fest. It's the pretext for all the best CNN-MSNBC-FoxNews knockdown drag-outs.
From the right:
"Don't you see? Once you legalize medical marijuana, then you're going to have to legalize cocaine for 'clinical reasons.' Then our children will start shooting up at recess - and our schools will become cartels!"
From the left:
"Just you wait. It starts with the Patriot Act and the government looking at our library records. Then the government will have cameras in our bedrooms - and inside our bodies! I'm sorry, the whole thing's really
scary ... Orwellian. I'm building my own secret annex to hide from these Nazis."
At its best this fearmongering is kind of amusing. But it's still fearmongering. I don't like fearmongering. Social policy driven primarily by fear usually ends up hurting more than helping, dividing more than uniting.
Dinesh and I debated the polygamy-gay marriage connection at a forum at Brigham Young University's GLBT Center in 1994. Here's what I said then:
