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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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From: LindyBill3/25/2005 10:06:22 AM
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The Schiavo aftermath: a culture of life or a culture of choice?
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By Larry Ribstein on Politics

Henninger says in today's WSJ that the Schiavo case was “bad law and good politics:”

The outpouring of support to give Terri Schiavo back to her parents may prove quixotic, but it ensures that these future questions of who lives and who dies won't be decided by the professional class alone in conferences and courtrooms. It will be done in full view, where it belongs.

But, as I’ve said, this politicizing of the issue could have an important casualty – the right to give advance consent.

The problem with politics bringing things out into “full view” is that it often obscures that view with smoke. Now that Congress' first legal move has failed, and the federal courts have refused to act, I fear the second move – making life or death decisions through federal law, rather than by individuals through advance decisions enabled by state law. And that, as I’ve said, would be very bad.

This concern is more than just theoretical. Daniel Dresner said a couple of days ago (tip by Marginal Revolution):

if this case has prompted a marked increase in the number of people specifying when they do not want heroic measures used to extend their biological life, then by their actions the Bush administration and both houses of Congress will have retarded rather than extended the culture of life.

I think that what we need, instead of a “culture of life,” is a culture of choice.
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