So...

[kandrathe]

I am not all that big a fan of multiple wives, given the challenge of just keeping one good woman happy.

Hear, Hear!! I think it was easier to have multiple wives when they were considered chatel, and if they would get out of line you would have them punished. I for one am happy to have a relationship with my wife based on equality. But it would get really complicated to have say 3 guys married to 4 gals all in the same house. If the State (meaning Minnesota for me) wants to sanction those types of domestic arrangements for tax or benefits purposes that is fine by me.

I agree in spirit with what Doc replied. To my mind, marriage is something more defined by religious tradition than by the secular. The State(s) co-opted "marriage" as a convenient mechanism to discriminate peoples based on marital status, and to apply laws that in most cases have been repealed (like ADULTERY). We still do have some laws regarding marriage like age of consent, and age with parental consent and in that every State within the United States is different. However, all States have through federal law agreed to respect the "marriages" consented to by other states. But now lately some States(like mine) have rewritten their marriage laws to strengthen the definition to be only between a man and a women and have clearly stated that they would deny the maritial status of unions from other States that did not meet our States marriage requirements. So this is why it is now back to the federal government to mandate that the wayward States remain united.