Resolved: Polygamy in the United States should be legal.

The problem with polygamy where polygamy exists is that it is exactly the situation I described. Abuse laws, divorce, age of consent are all largely moot when it comes to practice. I never said that in theory there couldn't be an idealized world where man and women in the 21st century make logical coherent choices about marriage and family. Rather, in practice the institution has always been invoked by religious ideologues to support the the subjugation of women. Throughout history it has always been abused. What is it about your pipedream that suddenly changes this. Next despite claims to the contrary my opponent is overlooking a number of very important dynamic shifts and underlying inequalities in the present situation. The claim that it would just make men try harder and that would in general be a public good ignores the underlying inequalities within the present system. If everybody were born equal and given equal opportunities perhaps the cream will rise to the top, however, our system is vastly different. Rather than rising from the bootstraps to become captains of industry, the best indicator of where you will end up in life is where you start in life. The men at the bottom will simply be unable to compete. They could try but the prospects are exceedingly slim. Next make no mistake that multiple spouses changes the marriage dynamic as well. Women must compete for resources for themselves and their children and are in a much worse position to do so because the bargaining is slim and there are replacements ready made. Further you couldn't simply divorce properly in a plural marriage. How much should the woman get? Half the estate, N+1th of the number of spouses in the marriage, none? Could the man get full custody of the children due to having resources and additional spouses to care for them? Technical issues aside, the men at the bottom are the losers, the children are the loses (save the little girls who could be given off to the older men), and the women are the losers. Polygamy ultimately harms everybody except the wealthy. My opponent offers that polygamy would simply lead to more men soliciting prostitutes rather than going off to war, remaining single, or suicide. My opponent somehow doesn't think a marked rise prostitution is indicative of serious social problems. Rather than having the potential for a wife or a girlfriend men would be soliciting a prostitute for sex. This is clearly leading, even in your idealized presentation to the objectification of women. This assumes however that there would even be any prostitutes. Middle level men might simply marry any would-be prostitutes earlier on. It's clear that the political, social, and ethical ramifications of the change would be significant. We have men at the bottom without prospect, women fighting for their husbands time in a terrible position to do so, and children with very little prospect of either being a wife or a wifeless loser. I do not mean to say when will be objectified in the "Damn she's fine" kind of way, but rather they are treated as property. Even given my firm feminist leanings I'm nearly unable to in my arguments about these hypothetical refer to women as anything but a commodity because with polygamy that's what they become. A scarce commodity for the poor and another resource the rich will largely possess. Moreover the ace in the hole of my argument is that it simply doesn't work as a system. That within polygamous societies the exact claims I've made are seen as everyday. Younger men are scorned and outcast. Women are bartered off and daughters traded among the older men. It simply fosters a non-functional society and a hugely unequal marriage dynamic. Claims that it simply hasn't been tried in the US and we have plenty of places to use young men as fodder are simply statements without justification. In any argument where we are making evidentiary claims, empirical evidence needs to be given a good standing. There are many many polygamous societies and they frankly don't work. Suggesting that it hasn't been tried in a rich country is putting the cart before the horse. For a number of economic reasons countries don't get rich when their power dynamics are opposed to the accumulation of wealth. Family tends to bleed of fortunes and fortunes build companies. Though a lesser point equality within the marriage and many small family units is the dynamic that fosters equality, wealth, and prosperity. Rather than an idealist dream where everybody has more freedom, we end up with a system that simply doesn't work. It fails and ends up creating stark differences. In Saudi Arabia the royal family is exceedingly wealthy. The money throughout the family is simply massive but the poverty and oppression of the masses is equally massive. And, rather than contributing to philanthropic enterprises to make the country better the money will all simply pour into the family and trickle down until all opportunity is lost. The wealthiest men in our country leave a few billion to their families and then build this country for the good of this country. The Fords, the Rockefelle,r the Gates have all been wealthy and share that wealth rather than marrying an entire harem. Rather than suggesting that polygamy in America would be different, you should realize that Polygamy would make America different. The underlying ace holds. Polygamous societies do not prosper. They are unequal, they are unfair, they are unjust, and they are socially unstable.