Tucker Carlson: Polygamy will become legal

March 1, 2006 - Yes, it's really Tucker Carlson of MSNBC!

He said...

Twenty years from now, polygamy will be legal in the United States. How do I know this? Because there's no longer a good argument against it. Gay marriage has made polygamy inevitable.

Confused by the connection? Here it is: Once we agree that it is unreasonable to limit marriage arbitrarily to one man and one woman, what is the argument for limiting marriage to two men or two women? There isn't one.

But, wait, you say. Polygamy is immoral. It's icky and weird. It's never been legal before. And you may be right. But those aren't arguments. They're reactions. And they're not good enough. In the absence of a rational justification for banning something, it becomes legal. That's the rule in America.

If anything, the case for polygamy (or more precisely the absence of a case against it) is even stronger than that for gay marriage. Unlike gay marriage, which was unheard of in human history until a few decades ago, polygamy has been around forever. It's still the norm in many parts of the world, including parts of Utah.

But wait again. Isn't that precisely the case against polygamy, that the societies in which it exists tend to be the most sexist? Doesn't polygamy demean woman? Maybe, but so does collagen lip augmentation and nobody is proposing to ban that. The point is, both are voluntary. (Yes, there are cases of very young girls being forced into plural marriages, but the crime there is statutory rape, not polygamy.) And in a society in which the highest value is freedom of choice, you can't tell consenting adults how to express their affections.

Next week, HBO will roll out a new drama about polygamy called Big Love. The show stars an otherwise ordinary man who happens to have three wives. Already Mormon leaders have complained that the show casts unfair aspersions on their church, which officially banned plural marriage more than 100 years ago. While that debate may be interesting, it's about the past. Big Love is a show about the future.

Have something to say? Email Tucker@msnbc.com

I have something to say: that's awesome!