Author: Charlotte

Charlotte is the owner of the blog "Speaking of Polygamy". She grew up in the mainstream LDS Church, but now the Torah is the foundation of her religion and the rest of the scriptures are a bonus. (It's amazing how much the Book of Mormon and Old Testament support each other.) She's been Joshua's wife since 2002 and Melissa's sisterwife since 2013. Together, they are blessed with many treasured children and live in Kody Brown's old house in Lehi, Utah. They love celebrating the Biblical holy days with like-minded friends (both old and new). Charlotte loves dancing, playing the piano, journaling, studying Biblical Hebrew, and reading to her children.

The Constitution Has 3 Built-In Safeguards of Liberty

The Constitution of the United States of America requires leaders to promise to defend it, limits their power if they don’t, and enshrines the God-given rights of the People, just in case.  The Constitution promotes liberty and remains relevant today.

“I can if I want to.  It’s a free country.”  

I heard this spoken many times in my childhood.  When one child tried to stop another from doing something, they would often appeal to the fact that this “is a free country.”  They seemed to understand that they had rights no one could take away.  

The Constitution enumerates certain government powers, delegated by the people, and includes a list of rights it’s forbidden to abridge.  Even when a leader wants to trample our rights, the Constitution limits his power. The first line of defense is that every elected official promises to defend the Constitution.  Let’s consider three built-in safeguards of liberty.  

First, the oath of office.  Article VI states that elected officials “shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution.”  This keeps the Constitution fresh in their mind.  Hopefully, we elect honest men who keep their promise.  

Inevitably, dishonest men get elected who have no intention of defending the Constitution, but there is a second safeguard against power-hungry men: the limit of their authority.  If the oath of office was the only safeguard of liberty, it would quickly fail.  It is almost always the nature of men to abuse power. Therefore, the wise framers put limits on government and those holding positions within it.  Limiting flawed humans in power is the only way to create a free society.  

The division of the government into three branches keeps anyone from having too much authority, which limits the potential for abuse, even by malicious politicians.  Each branch is limited to the powers explicitly delegated to it.  Even the President has only a short list of delegated powers. The inclusion of checks and balances between branches also prevents abuses.  

When leaders do try to abuse us, the Constitution contains a third safeguard: the Bill of Rights, which explicitly lists some rights that tyrants are likely to trample.  Such a list makes it simple and obvious for the people to recognize many things the government shouldn’t touch.  We know we have free speech, freedom of religion, and the right to bear arms, for instance.  When the government attempts to abridge any of these, we know sinister things are happening, and we can civilly disobey, rather than let our rights be trampled.  In other words, we can say, “I can if I want to.  It’s a free country.”  

The framers understood that men are not angels.  From Cain murdering Abel to today’s news headlines, it seems like nothing changes.  As long as there have been humans, there has been abuse. Fortunately for those who live in this “free country”, the Constitution has built-in protections for the liberty of the people.  

As long as human nature doesn’t change, the Constitution will remain as relevant as ever. 

Happy Constitution Day.

Sisterwives Ought to Watch Out for Each Other

As I write this, one of my little children is in my sisterwife’s kitchen eating the dinner she made, and one of her little children is in my kitchen eating the dinner I made.  Which would you choose: French Toast or Beef & Broccoli?  

I suppose someone might ask, “Why not just have one kitchen and one dinner?”  There are plenty of answers to that question which I will save for another time.  

For now I want to focus on the fact that it sure is nice to live with someone who has your back all the time.  

Years ago, we had the opportunity to ask a lovely woman if she’d like to be courted (i.e., if she’d like to spend more time with us and pursue joining the family).  My husband Joshua had arranged for her to come over to our house at a specific time.  He was planning to pop the question, as it were (the question being essentially, “May I court you?”).  

The arrangement allowed for my sisterwife Melissa and me to both be present, be part of the conversation.  We were supportive of the idea of Joshua courting her, and we wanted to be a part of the process.  

I had a little baby at the time, and at the crucial time with this woman, my baby needed to be put to bed.  It killed me that I would have to miss the conversation, but I excused myself and retreated to my bedroom with my infant.

I’ll never forget what Melissa did.  I didn’t ask for this and I didn’t expect it.  My sisterwife looked at the situation – me out of the room taking care of the baby, missing all the action, feeling totally left out – and she did what Jesus taught in the Golden Rule: She did what she would want me to do.  

When I had to leave the living room, Melissa left the living room as well.  She came into my bedroom with me to put the baby to bed.  She sat and talked to me while Joshua sat in the living room talking to our female friend.  

In a beautiful act of loyalty and love, Melissa thought to herself, If Charlotte doesn’t get to be part of the conversation, then neither do I.  And she acted on that thought, at her own expense.  

This is the kind of attitude I get to have in my sisterwife.  She is extremely loyal, and she always tries to look at things from my point-of-view.  

I am extremely blessed to have a sisterwife who thinks of me, considers me, loves me, and shows me regularly that we are united, we are on the same team.  

As another example, we occasionally hear of a plural husband who doesn’t split his time evenly between his wives. Melissa gets on a soap box about it, but her rant isn’t about watching out for herself; it’s her watching out for me: “If Joshua came to my bedroom two nights in a row, I’d kick him out and make him go to Charlotte’s bedroom!  What are those women doing that they allow their plural husband to treat their sisterwives unfairly?  They ought to be ashamed!  Sisterwives need to watch out for each other!”  

I could go on and on with illustrations of Melissa’s keeping the Golden Rule over the years.  Loyalty is one of the greatest virtues in plural marriage.  Melissa is a wonderful example of how sisterwives ought to watch out for each other.