Neither the federal government nor any state government is in the business of bestowing priesthood powers (unless it's to the high priesthood of the church of Darwin).
So, you are misplacing your concern. The sole question you should be asking yourself, if you believe in plural marriage, is whether the person performing it has the priesthood power to do it. If he does, he has it whether the state acknowledges the efficacy of the marriage or not.
The LDS Church maintains that no man has the present authority to perform plural marriage among the living. If they're right, they're right regardless of what the government says. If they're wrong, they're wrong regardless of what the government says.
The government in your argument is a classic red herring. You can argue it until you're blue in the face and it doesn't answer the question, certainly not the way you think it does.
So, you are misplacing your concern. The sole question you should be asking yourself, if you believe in plural marriage, is whether the person performing it has the priesthood power to do it. If he does, he has it whether the state acknowledges the efficacy of the marriage or not.
I disagree. See my response above. Granted, LDS fundamentalists in offshoot sects, do tend to side with you on this one point. Maybe you are a fundamentalist Mormon? Fundamentalists know full well the states don't acknowledge more than one wife at a time. On the other hand, the main body of LDS (the SLC church), who are most certainly law abiding, will not solemnize plural unions among the living. The stated reason for not doing so was because it is against the law of the land. The church wants to make sure it stays that way.
The LDS Church maintains that no man has the present authority to perform plural marriage among the living. If they're right, they're right regardless of what the government says. If they're wrong, they're wrong regardless of what the government says.
I would love for you to provide a source for this claim. I doubt you can provide one from a non-fundamentalist source. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have all the keys and authority needed to call and set apart priesthood holders to perform plural marriage ceremonies. If not, the authority could be given through revelation. If G-d should decide that Celestial Plural Marriage should be practiced again in this country, it could be done. But NOT, if the modern church has its way with this marriage amendment.
The government in your argument is a classic red herring. You can argue it until you're blue in the face and it doesn't answer the question, certainly not the way you think it does.
It most certainly is not. Just why was the practice of plural marriage stopped by the church in the first place?