You may have heard about the "Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints" in Texas, that have recently been the source of quite some craziness. The gist of it is this: Supposedly, a 16 year old girl called the police and said she was forced to marry a 50 year old man and have his children. The government's response? Take over the camp, take over 400 children from their families, remove 130+ women from the camp, and stop any of the men from leaving the "compound".
One of the things that makes this sort of thing so difficult to look at objectively, is that there were some children in danger. If there is a risk that children are being abused, surely its withing the scope of the government to step in and prevent this abuse. However, instead of taking on cases in which there was evidence of abuse, a Texas judge decided that all 416 children should be removed from their homes.
In any other small town, where the accused abuser was the mayor and some cops, and 5% of the children were confirmed abuse victims, the rest of the children, in this case 416 of them, would be left at home, with their mothers, while an extensive investigation was taking place. If these people were Methodists, watched 5 hours of TV a day, and worked in diners and factories, they would never have been forcefully removed from their homes, with all of their children put into foster care, when there is no evidence that they were at risk of abuse.
These people are different. Their beliefs, to most of us, seem very wierd. Some of them are allegedly criminal, and if they are guilty of child abuse and rape, then they should be jailed, but the rest of these families should be alone. If polygamy is a crime, it shouldn't be. It should be the decision of consenting adults how they want to run their families, and it only becomes the governments business where there is evidence of abuse, force, or fraud; but not otherwise. While some may consider wanting to have more than one wife to show a serious lack in judgment, it shouldn't be a criminal offense. And it surely isn't enough to justify taking 416 children from their homes.
Why should you care? Because the government's stance seems to be if you're wierd, and someone you know does something wrong, we're taking your children.
Monday, April 28, 2008
