| Thursday,
March 31, 2005
Terri
Schiavo has finally passed on, and I for one am glad that she no
longer has to suffer. The woman has long since deserved to rest
in peace.
It's
terribly tragic that she was used so shamelessly by right-wing extremists.
This has always been a family affair, a private matter - not a matter
for the federal government to get involved. Perhaps this episode
will highlight the need to prepare for our own end-of-life issues.
Hospice care, living wills, care for the dying.
Harold
Kushner, the Jewish rabbi and author, once asserted that American
culture is obsessed with youth because it is terrified of the prospect
of dying. I think there's a lot of truth to that. Death comes to
every one. It is a part of life, and we must learn to face it with
strength and dignity. This, after all, is one of the functions of
religion, and one of its blessings.
I
probably won't write about this subject any more. Hopefully, you've
learned a few things: the collapse of the American news media (between
this and Gannon/Guckert, has the "liberal media" myth
ever sounded more more absurd?), the need for universal health care,
the hypocricy of the extremist right, the GOP's desertion of its
values in pursuit of power. But on that last point, Hunter Thompson
was right: the Republican Party has never looked upon democracy
as anything more than a tribal myth.
------
This
has been a tragedy and a farce for all of us, and there are several
lessons to be learned from this.
Lesson
#1? The American people can still think for themselves.
The Republican leadership hoped to turn this poor dead woman into
a football for the next elections, but the people saw through it
all. The latest poll from Time shows heavy opposition from the voters:
75% oppose Congress' involvement in the Schiavo case (only 20% support);
70% are against Bush's intervention (only 24% support); 65% say
this is about politics (25% say values). Most telling, voters are
twice as likely to vote against their Congressmen in the next election,
54% to 21%.
I'm
sure you've all seen the Republican talking-points memo that started
this whole farce. This has always been about politics.
Lesson
#2? Hypocricy stinks. George Bush couldn't be bothered
to put down a book about a pet goat when the Twin Towers were hit.
He said nothing about the tsunami for days until he was shamed into
it. He went four days without commenting on the school shooting
in Minnesota, the largest shooting incident since Columbine. But
watch him leap into action to sign legislation on Terri Schiavo.
Hypocricy? Perhaps.
Perhaps
it would also help to know that as Texas governor, George Bush signed
a law that gives hospitals final say on whether to pull the plug
on patients, over the objections of family members. They can also
cut you off if you can't pay the bill. Really. Just two weeks ago,
a six-month-old infant was put to death in Texas, over his mother's
objections.
Lesson
#3? The GOP thinks you're stupid. Why else the parade of
lies and shameful deception? Tom Delay, who boasts that Schiavo
is a gift from God, who claims that she is awake, lucid. Bill Frist,
who claims to diagnose patients after watching an hour of edited,
years-old videotape. Jeb Bush, who tells people that Schiavo is
awake and speaking, who tries to kidnap Schiavo in defiance of the
courts, who has been kicking this poor woman around for years in
Florida.
These
men are dispicable. They are monsters, pure and simple.
Lesson
#4? It's the most important lesson for all you conservatives,
pro-lifers, and evangelical Christians: the GOP does not respect
you. They don't believe in any of the bumper-sticker slogans they've
sold to you. You are nothing more than suckers and chumps to them.
They
say their "pro-family," until the husband or legal guardian
does something the state doesn't approve of. They say they're "pro-life,"
but then they cut Medicaid; they try to abolish Social Security;
they allow for more pollution which results in disease, death, and
(for pregnant mothers) forced miscarrages; they give protection
to Eli Lilly, whose drugs contain mercury, resulting in autism in
children; they have no problem executing the mentally retarded or
minors; they have no problem killing Iraqis; and they have no problem
pulling the plug on you when your health insurance runs out.
The
Republicans say they're for "states' rights," until they
get in power. Now, they claim the right to invade your family's
privacy. Suprised? Remember the Patriot Act?
This
is merely a small sample. If you've been paying attention, you'll
see many more. The Republican Party doesn't care about you. They
never have and they never will. Many religious conservatives are
beginning to see that now. It's unfortunate that citizens genuine
faiths are being manipulated by corrupt politicians for the sake
of their hold on power, just as it's tragic that one brain-dead
woman has been used as a political football by the extremist right. |
