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Entry: Waiting for Agitprop Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/waiting_for_agitprop#24396 Post contents: Rich Lowry may in fact be extrapolating from the Supreme Court's decision in Reynolds v. United States (1878), which does make a connection between polygamy and forms of governance: "In fact, according as monogamous or polygamous marriages are allowed, do we find the principles on which the government of [98 U.S. 145, 166] the people, to a greater or less extent, rests. Professor, Lieber says, polygamy leads to the patriarchal principle, and which, when applied to large communities, fetters the people in stationary despotism, while that principle cannot long exist in connection with monogamy. Chancellor Kent observes that this remark is equally striking and profound. 2 Kent, Com. 81, note (e). An exceptional colony of polygamists under an exceptional leadership may sometimes exist for a time without appearing to disturb the social condition of the people who surround it; but there cannot be a doubt that, unless restricted by some form of constitution, it is within the legitimate scope of the power of every civil government to determine whether polygamy or monogamy shall be the law of social life under its dominion." Sent at: 2008 09 07