Thoughts on Children, Life and the Pursuit of Happiness

I am embarrassed to say that I have been a little to interested in the Polygamy Child protective case in Texas. I am almost drawn to it. Desperate to understand their lives. Haunted by the fact that my life could easily by like theirs if my ancestors who practiced plural marriage had chosen to continue being polygamous. Why did the ancestors of these FLDS polygamist choose to continue practicing polygamy? Why did they choose to create there own religion? Obviously they thought that everyone else was wrong. The obvious answer doesn't seem like enough to me.
I have bin unable to pin point my obsession with this subject, but I think it is voiced in this article from The Salt Lake Tribune. In the article Peggy Fletcher Stack, writes: "Mormons, especially those with polygamist ancestors, feel conflicted as they watch Texas authorities separate FLDS families on the basis of alleged abuse. They don't support the practice of polygamy today, yet these Latter-day Saints see the faces of their great-grandparents in the FLDS women and children. They hear echoes of 19th-century salacious - and false - rumors about their Mormon forefathers. And they worry about government officials having power to decide what's best for children."
I think my curiosity slash obsession with this subject and the images of polygamous families comes down to this. I see my mother and her grandmother's as I look at images of polygamous families. Both of my mothers grandmothers grew up in families that practiced plural marriage at the turn of the century. I see something in there faces something in there eyes that draws me in. The curiosity is not entirely new. I had watched specials on polygamy and read about the FLDS online for years (out of some kind of morbid curiosity). Always haunted by the little part of myself that I saw in them.
I don't support polygamy and have never considered what I would really do in the situation that they face. I am totally against sexual, physical or psychological abuse of anyone. I feel like the free agency of the women and children in this community has been restricted. That the restriction of free agency and civil liberties is wrong. And yet taking all the children away from these families seems more wrong. Another less sympathetic part of me thinks that they had it coming! When the church stopped practicing plural marriage in the 1890 the prophet warned that if people continued to practice polygamy the men would end up in jail, there families would be separated, that the government would confiscate their land and temples. That seems to be what is happening now. To these people. I read in an article somewhere, that men stood out side the FLDS temple in Texas and cried as the police broke down the doors of their temple with battering rams. I can not even imagine. Why even have laws that protect our civil liberties if police can brake down the doors of a building of worship and search it. I am not sure where I stand. Abuse if there is any needs to stop. Young Adults should live in the real world for a year or two and then make a decision about if the polygamous life is what they want. People under the age of 18 should not get married at all! No one should be aloud to marry some one old enough to be there father in any society. But is taking away all their children and putting them in foster care facilities the answer. Darin does not understand my obsession at all. He thinks I'm a nut case.