Right to Die

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The late Bill Hicks was one of the most acerbic, bitter, and dark people I've ever listened to. The fact that he pulled of a decent comedy act is pretty amazing. Along with conservatives, religious leaders, and Billy Ray Cyrus, one of Hicks' frequent targets were pro-lifers. To wit:

"If you're so pro-life, do me a favor: don't lock arms and block medical clinics. If you're so pro-life, lock arms and block cemeteries."

Despite Hicks' reference (and the White House's insistence), the Terry Schiavo case has nothing to do with abortions. The President can spout rhetoric about "the value of life" as much as he wants, but linking the two is similar to linking stabbing deaths and how finely a restaurant slices red peppers simply because both are done using cutlery. These are separate issues and the Republican party simply wants to draw a line in the sand so that they can move forward with plans to re-name themselves "The Life Party" in 2008.

Let's only take on one controversial issue today, though. To pull another quote from someone with a bit more political experience than Hicks:

"...The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life; those who are in the shadows of life; and those who are in the twilight of life."**

At its surface, one could read this Hubert Humphrey quote and believe that the government is right in its latest actions to restore Schiavo's feeding tube. Basically, having life is better than not having it, so everything should be done to make sure she is kept alive. But I don't think that's where Hubert was going when he said that. Like us Dems are wont to do, he was talking about having the appropriate government-sponsored social service infrastructure in place to ensure fairness and dignity for all Americans.

What's happening in this case is neither fair nor dignified. After more than a decade of seeing his wife in a vulnerable state, Terri's husband Michael made the decision to have his wife's final synthetic link to life removed... only to be told by a bunch of suits that he can't make that decision for her. The latest bunch of suits happen to be worn by Congressional Republicans, strange since the GOP has traditionally been the party most skeptical of government intervention. It's also a bit ironic that the Republicans are so frenzied about getting this case in for federal judicial review: isn't this the same group of people who are outraged that state judicial bodies are "stealing" power by permitting gay marriages?

I digress. I think I'd be a lot more upset about this case if Ms. Schiavo had collapsed a year ago, two years ago, five years ago. But it's been fifteen years. And many people are glossing over the obvious here: if it weren't for medical technology, she would have been dead long before Bush 41 left office. Before becoming too sanctimonious about "life," pro-tubers should remember than the only reason Terri is alive today is because of artificial reasons.

Bill Hicks passed away quietly in February 1994 at age 32, from pancreatic cancer. Congressional grandstanders should back off and let Terry Schiavo do the same.

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