The Love Church

John Tierney of the New York Times, wrote recently, "if the specter of legalized polygamy is the best argument against gay marriage, let the wedding bells ring." I didn't get to read the rest of the article because I can't afford to get past their firewall. But I heard the matter much discussed among the bloggesphere.

It appears that polygamy is quickly becoming all the rage with the conservo-set, which is a man-centered fantasy world anyway. JC Christian shot off to religious leaders:

"If that's the case, wouldn't it compound the problems men like ourselves have when we bed a woman? It's hard enough to put up with one woman's crying, vomiting, and cutting remarks about the size and virility of our little soldiers. I can't imagine doubling or tripling it would make it any better."

Indeed.

However, it seems there was a personal side to the general's remarks that I was entirely surprised and delighted to learn of.

"Mitt Romney's big win in Memphis, the premier of HBO's Big Love and the endorsement of polygamy by two of Red America's most respected pundits got me to thinking about my own polygamist roots. On July 31, 1857, My great, great grandpa, Wilford Woodruff was sealed for time and all eternity to his ninth wife, Sarah Delight Stocking. He was fifty years old and a member of Mormon Church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a body whose power is second only to that held by the Prophet, himself. Grandma Sarah was nineteen at the time."

He reminds us earlier that Mitt Romney made an unexpected favorable showing at the recent republican straw polling for the 2008 election. And he, too, has made no remarks condemning the practice of polygamy. Although we know it is completely illegal in the US. For the LDS church, the practice was forcibly ended, and later,

"Some Mormons, refusing to obey the Manifesto and fearful of the resulting federal crackdown on polygamists, pulled up stakes and moved to Mexico. Among them were Miles Romney, Mitt's great grandfather, and his three wives. The Romneys remained in Mexico until the Revolution, when Mitt's father, future Governor George, moved back to the States.

I suppose that it's because of this history that Mitt refuses to condemn the practice of plural marriage. Some might view such reluctance as being an impediment to his presidential chances, but now that Tierney and Kurtz are on the polygamy bandwagon, support for it may become a conservative litmus test. I hope that's the case."

What a rich history the Romney's played in the polygamist's diasporah to Northern Mexico, which I still see down there on market days, looking very much arayan and speaking very much Spanish. Just a quick search came up with stuff like this:

"As for George Romney, governor of Michigan, John Hart says: " The Romneys still live in the predominately Mormon community of Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, the Stake in that part of Mexico; 5,000 people live there. It is located some 18 miles west of Casas Grandes in a beautiful valley filled with apple orchards. There are now 3 million Mormons in Mexico and they have a goal of 30 million by 2020. Their missionaries are literally everywhere. There were also still some of the Hatch family at Colonia Juarez just a few years ago". RH: I suppose this is a reference to the family of Orrin Hatch.

Shortly after, the local general told Mormon stake president Junius Romney that the Mormons must hand over the large supply of weapons and ammunition they had been storing in case of trouble. Romney stalled. Despite the fact that flatcar-mounted artillery was trained on Colonia Dublan, he went into council with his people and decided to turn over some, but not all and certainly not the best of their guns to the rebels. In this way, he tried to gain time to get the multiple wives of each family, the women and children of the colonias, out of Mexico."

A young George Romney made his way out of the wilderness to make his fortune:

"A lifelong member and former bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mr. Romney spent two years as a Mormon missionary in England and Scotland during the 1920s. Friends said there was an evangelical strain about many of his undertakings later in life as well.

As chairman and president of American Motors from 1954 until 1962, Mr. Romney played a key role in bringing the compact economy car to the U.S. public. He oversaw marketing for the Rambler, which he promoted with a missionary enthusiasm. Lambasting the large chromium-laden cars produced by Ford, Chrysler and General Motors then, he declared: "Who wants to have a gas-guzzling dinosaur in his garage? . . . Think of the gas bills!"

Trapped once in a St. Louis traffic jam, he lectured a taxi driver that the mess never would have happened if everyone drove smaller cars. "Next time, try a Rambler," he advised as he left the cab."

The Romney's can't afford to stain their souls by denying their religious heritage, because this, in part is their deeply held belief:

"(S)ome affirmed they saw a pillar of fire between him and the Cadi or Magistrates, and others actually swore that they saw it. This the credible Jews believed; those who would not believe in him, were shunned as excommunicated persons, and all intercourse with them was prohibited. 'The Grand Seignor, determined to try his faith by stripping him naked and setting him a mark for his archers; but rather than subject himself to this test, he turned Mahometan, to the great confusion of the Jews.' We have been thus particular in giving a view, of the incidents of the life of this impostor, as a specimen of the others; and because of some remarkable analogies between him and the present New York imposter.

Numerous have been the imposters among christians since the great apostacy began; especially since, and at the time of the Reformation. Munzer, Stubner and Stork, where conspicuous in the beginning of the 16th century.' These men taught that among christians, who had the precepts of the Gospel to guide them, and the spirit of God to direct them, the office of magistracy was not only unnecessary, but an unlawful encroachment on their spiritual liberty; that the distinctions occasioned by birth, rank, or wealth, should be abolished; that all christians should put their possessions into one common stock, and live together in that state of equality, which becomes members of the same family, and that polygamy was not incompatible with either the Old or New Testament."

Another reason not to deny to LDS saint's polygamist skism is that they'll come and kill you. But that's a story for later.

Doesn't everybody want these guys to run the country?