Libertarian conservative John Tierney asks, “Who’s Afraid of Polygamy,” in his column for today’s New York Times. By pointing to the advantages of polygamy for African women, Tierney offers a serious argument. But Tierney doesn’t begin to grapple with what I see as the problem of adapting traditional polygamy to the United States. I’ll have more to say on the subject down the road, but Beyond Gay Marriage contains some relevant thoughts.

We can’t licence polygamy without also promoting polyamory. Traditional polygamy, by its nature, will have limited appeal in America (as Tierney correctly notes). But polyamory has much greater potential appeal, and poses a much deeper danger to the American family (which Tierney ignores). Take away the stigma against multiple-partner marriage, and our larger family system will be profoundly weakened. It’s the stigma and the resulting secrecy

that limit the social effects of multi-partner unions now. Change that, and you will see deep systemic consequences. The weakness of the libertarian position is the illusion that the effects of legalization and destigmatization would be limited to what Tierney calls “a few consenting adults.”

By the way, Tierney also overestimates the extent to which modernization in Africa is eliminating polygamy. In parts of Africa where educated married women have rejected polygamy, men have adopted a system of de facto polygamy involving what Africans call “outside wives.” Educated married women don’t like this system, but can’t stop it, given the cultural carry-over from more traditional polygamy. So both in Africa and in the United States, I think Tierney’s libertarian position underestimates the systemic impact of

cultural values.

In any case, as expected, Big Love has emboldened defenders of polygamy. The idea that this is just a television drama with no public policy implications does not hold up.