>I was simply stating that there are only a few cases (well publisized though they may be) in Utah in the last several decades where a polygamist has been prosecuted for something while the press makes it out as being about polygamy.

And I'm certainly not going to jump to the defense of "the press" here. In the majority of cases I've seen, the press as a body doesn't bother to take the time to get the details right if that means getting in the way of a story that sells more advertising space. It is possible, however, that yes, the cases you cite were about pologamy *even though* they wern't the specific charges. I honestly don't know how many criminal cases have been brought against individuals, where the basic underlying attitude was "well, if we can't get them on what we want to get them for, we'll go looking for something we can get them on".

>a great many of which say that they are "fundamentalist Mormon" though the Mormon Church does not and will not allow them to be members if they practice polygamy.

It won't now, but remember that the Mormons were forced out of the eastern US primarily because they practised polygamy as part of their belief system. The Mormon Church as a group, decided that it was to their political advantage for Utah to become a state (in the sense of a subunit of the US), and hence, as a church, outlawed polygamy. Here, we have case of one group's (the mainstream christians in control of the US at the time) religious politics running roughshod over another group's (the Mormon church, as it was constituted in the late 19th century) religious politics.

>I personally know people who left their families in the dead of night to get out of a polygamist situation, and who had to hide, change their name, etc. in order not to be "kidnapped" back into it

Here we have cases of abuse, where polygamy was used as the excuse for abusing people. But this again, is not inherent in polygamy. If people are abusing their spouse(S), then they should be prosecuted ON THAT BASIS, regardless of their legal marital status. There really is no excuse for abuse.

>On the issue of the state prosecuting others for "theft of services" ... I don't think that the state uses this as an excuse to TARGET polygamists

The state most certainly does, although I couldn't tell you how prevelant it is...see response above.

>I do and always have believed that if you don't like a law, you have the option to try to change it ... if you choose to break it, then you are accountable for your own actions.

And if the law is abusive of humanity?

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