Monday, March 21, 2005The obligatory Terry Shiavo postDigby points out that in a Republican nation, the Terry Shiavo case would be practically a non-issue. But not for the reasons you'd hope. I'll summarize them quickly here, but you should really go read Digby's post. 1. When Bush was governor of Texas, he signed a law that gave hospitals the right to remove life support if the patient could not pay and there was no hope of revival, regardless of the patient's family's wishes. A baby in Dallas was just removed from life support against his mother's wishes this past week becuase of that law. 2. The House's recent budget resolution slashes the Medicaid funding that pays for the sort of care that someone like Terry Shiavo has relied on for so long. 3. Congressional Republicans also support tort reform which would eliminate malpractice claims like the one that has paid for Terry Schiavo's care for the past many years. 4. The bankrupcy bill that was just overwhelmingly passed in Congress would make it nearly impossible for families like Terry's to declare bankruptcy in the face of insurmountable medical bills. 5. True conservatives want the government OUT of private individual's lives. In other words, in a Republican nation, Terry Shiavo would have been dead a long time ago. This whole ridiculous circus isn't about a "culture of life." It's about cheap political points and appealing to the conservative Christian base. If you think that's just rhetoric, check out the GOP memo which calls the debate of the Shiavo case "a great political issue" and "a tough issue for Democrats." I'll give Digby the last word: One of the things that we need to help America understand is that there is a big difference between the way the two parties perceive the role of government in its citizens personal lives. Democrats want the government to collect money from all its citizens in order to deliver services to the people. The Republicans want the government to collect money from working people in order to dictate individual citizen's personal decisions. You tell me which is the bigger intrusion into the average American's liberty? posted by chris at 12:35 PM ------------------ |
|
Blog - Info - Archive - Contact - Links 2005 © Designed by Chris. Take what you want. |
||
|
||