Nevada Senator Harry Reid has called for more federal involvement in investigating polygamy in the Western states but folks who’ve been involved in such investigations for years say that his Polygamy Investigation Request Redundant because the federal government has been involved for quite some time. Of course, Reid’s call may have something to do with visibility in the news at the moment rather than merely with cracking down on polygamists for their alternative lifestyle or religions (specifically in illegal activities associated with lifestyle and religious practice). Utah Representative Jim Matheson has jumped on that bandwagon as well given the recent publicity associated with the Warren Jeffs arrest. Federal law enforcement has been cooperating with local officers for some time. The question becomes how much of the call for prosecution is based upon criminal actions and how much upon religious intolerance. The anti-polygamy laws were first put into place in regard to Mormonism due to religious intolerance and had nothing to do with the rights of children or wives. The crimes against children and women can be prosecuted under long-standing laws . . . but the anti-polygamy laws still stand merely because of religious intolerance in a nation where religious freedoms are constitutionally guaranteed. I have personally met many women and children who have been terribly abused within monogamous relationships . . . we’re talking about beatings, miscarriages, rape, even torture . . . but, to my knowledge, no one has taken these abuses and generalized them to mean that all monogamy is wrong and should be abolished and legally sanctioned. Abuses by polygamists should be punished . . . however, they should be treated the same as abuses by anyone. It is not the polygamy that is inherently wrong, it is the actions of some people who practice it.