The Free Congress Foundation, a conservative think tank (check out their about page) speaks out against the law that the Schiavo issue inspired Congress to pass. A very interesting read. It begins:
This writer is among those who do not accept - culturally, pragmatically or theologically - abortion, assisted suicide, mercy killing or any other form of involuntarily imposed death (except [1] capital punishment for the most heinous of crimes or [2] just war). These remarks, however, address not the worth of such horror but rather the well-intentioned but misbegotten effort of those who would save Ms. Terri Schiavo’s life by transferring her earthly salvation from the State of Florida to Federal jurisdiction - that is, Congressional enactment of an attempt at protective legislation.
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The long-term likely consequences beyond the Schiavo tragedy are another matter - and risky.
Our governmental structure was created as, and to a diminished level still is, federalist - that is, some functions are solely state prerogative, others Federal Government, others a mixture. Absent an amendment to the Constitution, federal legislation governing use of a feeding tube and criteria for prolonging, curtailing or terminating life-support clearly is a further big leap toward the elimination of federalism and eradication of states’ rights in favor of a more dominant, intrusive and powerful Federal Government.
And, after examining the law’s semantics in the context of how it might be applied in the future, concludes:
Apply those criteria to the federal statute designed to save Ms. Schiavo’s life and risk the invalidation of the statute and eventually the collapse of state statutes. The “overwhelming weight of international opinion” in this context is oriented toward death, not life. Meantime, the Federal Government further would have interfered with state governance and vitiated what remains of federalism.
In sum, the immediate Schiavo tragedy over time almost surely would be transmogrified into more, not fewer, innocent deaths.
Beware the Law of Unintended Consequences.
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