This whole situation got wildly out of control. I understand there's a littany of problems with polygamist groups: very young girls being forced into marriage with old men; the unbalanced nature of the men being allowed to have multiple wives, but the women can't have multiple husbands; the old men voting to throw the young boys out of "the family" to a world they don't have the foggiest understanding about -- all because of perceived competition for the women.

But on the flip side, the children were horribly neglected when the state took them. There were multiple -- yes, multiple -- reports of how after the children were put into a group home situation, they would cry for their mothers and the social workers and staff would just stand there and show no affection to them, no cuddling, no soothing at all. It's like they were so repulsed by the situation the kids came out of, that they couldn't even extend rudimentary compassion for the innocents who had no control over their situations.

So who are the real monsters? Things just go from bad to worse for this "community". Sure, the situation they were originally in was awful; but it was aggravated when the government stepped in. All the welfare department did was reinforce the idea that the world outside the cult was worse than the conditions inside, thereby making them believe it's better to stay shackled to their original conditions.

And this is the same government that the United States wants to manage their entire healthcare system and now the banking industry.

What upsets me the most is the double standard at work here. Can you imagine how many heads would have rolled if a local government stepped in to take kids away from a gay couple, merely because of an issue with "moral standards"? Recall the hundreds of gay couples in San Francisco who find nothing wrong with bringing their kids to the Folsom Street Fair every year. SF Children Services is not pining for retribution there. Sure, the initial argument I will hear is going to be, but the polygamist community was allowing child rape. To that I give my relativism argument: to each his own. But then I suspect I'll hear about how the girls were too young to make up their own minds. Really? Well, if in any other arena we advocate for kids as young as 10 to make up their own minds regarding sex, then why wouldn't that apply here? If we advocate for birth control for minors and abortions w/o the consent of parents, then what's the problem in this situation? Then I expect to hear the indoctrination argument: these kids were so brainwashed that they didn't know which way was up. To that I will answer, what's your definition of brainwashed? Liberal outfits advocate for early indoctrination of their principles as well. Get 'em while their young.

The only way for the polygamist way of life to be considered abhorrent is if absolute truth exists and moral boundaries are not up for individual interpretation. But I doubt that any of the liberal thinkers would be ready to agree to that because it would make them open the door to the God of the Bible, and they won't do that. So there will be nothing to quench that thirst within them that cries for justice. Again, if no behavior is ultimately wrong and everything is left up to personal perception, then there can be no justice because there are no problems.

misscherie, wow those kids really must be tramatized from what they went through.

Well said Misscherie.