Those who tout states' rights on such an issue as this do not understand our federal system.
We live under a FEDERAL system, not a CONFEDERACY of states. States do not have the license nor power to nullify unalienable, God-given rights, nor can they ignore the U.S. Constitution.
The first principle of our system is that the government derives its powers from the PEOPLE. The power to deprive anyone of the unalienable right to life cannot belong to the states because it cannot belong to the people.
Secondly, it is expressly unconstitutional for a state to kill the innocent. The very portion of the Bill of Rights that secures states' rights (the 10th Amendment) prohibits the states from holding powers prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. We know the power to deprive a person the right to life is prohibited by the Constitution, via the 5th and 14th Amendments. Unless the person has been duly found guilty under the law of a crime that warrants capital punishment, the state has no power to kill him.
Further, Oregon's law cannot be defended on the claim that a right to suicide exists among the people. The unalienable right to life, by definition, is "incapable of being alienated, surrendered, or transferred."
Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law does not fall within the realm of states' rights. We might as well say states have the right to hold slaves.
Please explain to me how the state is killing anyone in an instance of assisted suicide.
I think YOU should be on the Supreme Court. :-)
You stated it perfectly, and far better than I could have.
Thank you!
The state wouldn't be killing anyone. This would be the domain of an invidual and his family. The question is does the state have the right to stop them.