Posted on 03/23/2005 5:04:24 AM PST by Maurice Tift
The shocking governmental homicide of Terri Schiavo has many dimensions, twists, and turns--all of which, upon analysis, converge on one inescapable reality: The life of Terri Schiavo is solely in the hands of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
While Terri lies dying by slow execution in a Pinellas Park hospice, Gov. Bush and others have looked mainly to the legislative process for relief--knowing full well that any special law intended to spare Terri's life will likely be overturned or disregarded by unsympathetic courts on the pretext of "separation of powers."
Terri's protectors have also appealed repeatedly to the courts themselves to correct their own excesses and lapses throughout this horrific ordeal--with equally predictable results.
At this point, the obvious solution is an executive one.
The case for executive relief
Any delegating of executive authority to the other branches will not only fail to save Terri, it appears--because the courts pretend to reign supreme, at the expense of true equilibrium between the branches--but it amounts to passing the authoritative buck.
The result will be not only the unconscionable death of an innocent woman whose execution cannot be justified on the basis of the facts, let alone on moral grounds, but the executive power will be shown to be what it has willfully become: impotent.
Not only that, but if Terri dies, the executive authority in Florida will be directly complicit.
No other entity in the state has authority to kill Terri. The courts can't do it. Nor can the legislature do anything directly about it. Only the executive can actually put people to death, under constitution-based law.
This fact dispels any notion that the governor is powerless to spare Terri. The truth is, only the governor--who oversees all agencies of executive power in the state--can in fact put Terri to death.
Officers already acting to kill Terri
Under authority of Jeb Bush, police are already at the scene--not to protect Terri, but to ensure that she is killed. They are, in fact, executing her.
Numerous well-meaning people who have tried to feed Terri--acting from simple respect for Judeo-Christian morality and compassion--have been arrested by uniformed officers who are acting on executive orders drawn up in conflict with the clear written meaning of constitutional law.
Rather than stand firm on the separation of powers principle upon which the Constitution, itself, is based, the executive power--at this very moment in the Terri Schiavo case--is actively participating in Terri's murder, having abdicated constitutional authority to the emerging bullies in government: the judiciary.
The result is total chaos, in the midst of an unprecedented constitutional crisis, the only remedy to which is for the executive to defend his rightful turf and preserve not only Terri's life, but the life of the republic.
The outward "orderliness" with which Terri is now being cruelly put to death--upon "orders" from an agenda-driven judiciary that has no power to act--belies the real truth of what is happening. Our nation's heart is being ripped out by the executive--not by anyone else--and with that loss goes our moral authority as a nation to lead the world.
As some suggest, we are behaving as a third-world dictatorship that cares little about innocent human life, and less about constitutional law.
Gov. Bush, put a stop to this travesty right now, for the sake of all that our nation stands for, in the interest of meriting God's merciful protection of our country in the years ahead.
If you "allow" Terri to die, you will indeed be her chief executioner.
CALL GOV. BUSH at 850-488-4441 Email: jeb@myflorida.com
What a surprise.
Good morning.
Oh, please stop this. This is a lie and has no place here.
A new low, imo.
Now you know better...I saw you say it's pouring rain up there....and it is here, too! UGH.
"Let Right Be Done"
Short and to the point. Brevity is the soul of wit, so I must be one witless wonder.
"...The crucial issue in deciding whether one would want to intervene to keep her alive is whether there is, as one bioethicist put it to me, "anyone home."
Her parents, who see her often, believe that there is. The husband maintains that there is no one home. (But then again he has another home, making his judgment somewhat suspect.) The husband has not allowed a lot of medical testing in the past few years. I have tried to find out what her neurological condition actually is. But the evidence is sketchy, old and conflicting. The Florida court found that most of her cerebral cortex is gone. But "most" does not mean all. There may be some cortex functioning. The severely retarded or brain-damaged can have some consciousness. And we do not go around euthanizing the minimally conscious in the back wards of mental hospitals on the grounds that their lives are not worth living.
Given our lack of certainty, given that there are loved ones prepared to keep her alive and care for her, how can you allow the husband to end her life on his say-so? Because following the sensible rules of Florida custody laws, conducted with due diligence and great care over many years in this case, this is where the law led.
For Congress and the president to then step in and try to override that by shifting the venue to a federal court was a legal travesty, a flagrant violation of federalism and the separation of powers. The federal judge who refused to reverse the Florida court was certainly true to the law. But the law, while scrupulous, has been merciless, and its conclusion very troubling morally. We ended up having to choose between a legal travesty on the one hand and human tragedy on the other.
There is no good outcome to this case. Except perhaps if Florida and the other states were to amend their laws and resolve conflicts among loved ones differently -- by granting authority not necessarily to the spouse but to whatever first-degree relative (even if in the minority) chooses life and is committed to support it. Call it Terri's law. It would help prevent our having to choose in the future between travesty and tragedy.
Looks like our opinions on this matter are being reinforced more and more, don't they?
It's too bad nobody gave her a gun to shoot Michael. If she had, the authorities would have to keep her alive, so they could try her and convict her of murder so 25 years later they could put her to death.
Isn't our system of justice wonderful??
Balderdash.
Stuff and nonsense.
Horsefeathers.
Silliness.
Whackiness.
Bizzarity.
What on earth is wrong with you? This whole thing is ugly enough without you making it even uglier. SHAME ON YOU!
Terry Schiavo. Her bulimia started this mess. Her parents, for refusing to let go. Her husband, for refusing to divorce her and walk away. All the hucksters and groups with their own agendas who latched onto this family fued for their own selfish reasons. The attorneys on both sides who made lotsabucks off this case for the last 15 years.
Other than the above set of circumstances, there is nothing -- absolutely nothing -- unique about this case. Feeding tubes and other forms of life support are removed just about every day somewhere in this country. If people really want to do something constructive about "right to live vs. right to die" cases, they should lift their eyes from one individual and demand a national policy that governs how all such cases should be handled. If that were to happen, then Terri Schiavo will not have died in vain.
We ended up having to choose between a legal travesty on the one hand and human tragedy on the other.
And here we are.
Crock
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