Posted on 03/31/2011 4:12:29 AM PDT by Nextrush
On this sixth anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death, I will note my shame for my own attitude at the time.
I was neither sober nor sane, my emotions ran wild sitting and pacing the floor, logging on constantly for the latest news. I was as crazy as Michael Savage was ranting on the radio during those dark days.
Sane and sober people did help Terri's family and her cause and I have noted the contributions of Glenn Beck among others.
There's a lot of hostility from some when one brings up the notion of "failure" involving public officials to take action to save Terri's life.
After noting my own moral failure let me ask the question what could have Governor Jeb Bush of Florida or President George W. Bush have done?
I will endeavor to offer answers based on history related to the "Civil Rights Movement" and the conflicts of the early 1960's.
In the fall of 1960,a Georgia judge denied Martin Luther King bail on a misdemeanor charge, sending him to the chain gang at the Georgia State Penitentiary.
Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy picked up a phone to call MLK's wife Coretta to express his concern.
His brother and campaign manager Bobby Kennedy was on a phone to the Georgia judge asking him to explain his denial of bail.
In the end the Democrats went to work with the Democrat Governor of Georgia helping the Democrat presidential candidate by springing King from prison.
Did George W. Bush contact Terri's family during their ordeal??? The Democrats sent Jesse Jackson and the Republicans sent Rick Santorum as I saw it.
What could Republicans have done as a team to change things??? Could calls have been made to Judge Greer asking for an explanation???? Could recalcitrant Republican legislators who blocked life saving legislation like the late Senator Jim King of Jacksonville have felt some presidential heat????
We knew weeks ahead of time that her feeding tube would be disconnected on March 18th.
It would have been a great time for the president and the governor to have worked through intermediaries to save Terri's life just like Democrats worked to get Martin Luther King out of jail.
Lets jump to Birmingham in 1963 where Dr. King planned what he expected to be a more successful protest than the failed one in Albany, Georgia the year before.
Police tactics in Georgia were non-violent but Birmingham would be different. King knew that Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull" Connor had a very short fuse.
The temper and tactics of "Bull" Connor would help to make Birmingham a watershed event in American history.
And that brings us to a man with a temper named Michael Schaivo. His public appearances showed that anger including his anger towards Democrats for allowing the meaningless and symbolic legislation to pass Congress during Terri's ordeal.
There was opportunity here to push buttons and bring out the "Bull Connor" in Michael Schiavo.
Mark Fuhrman uncovered evidence of Michael's temperament in his investigation.
One way to help reveal his temper would have been through a more vigorous protest movement led by an important pro-life figure.
If only Dr. Alveda King would have been able to have done that perhaps it would have spooked Michael Schaivo.
Would he have gone crazy with racial comments????
Governor Bush could have helped by stationing Florida law enforcement around Michael Schiavo to "guard" him. That may have made him uptight. The officers would be with him all the time, including times with Terri at the hospice.
They could have watched to make sure that Michael, a nurse, didn't do anything to hasten her death.
In the end perhaps federal intervention would have been needed.
Our nation's founding document declares "certain inalienable rights" including the right to "life"
That alone should be a good basis for such action.
In 1961 the lives of the Freedom Riders and their supporters were threatened in Alabama with numerous acts of violence.
To protect them at one point when Alabama authorities were unable or unwilling to, President Kennedy ordered in a force of federal marshals, federal prison guards and border patrol agents armed with pistols and tear gas.
They fought a battle with a mob surrounding a church in Montgomery, Alabama until the governor declared martial law and sent in the National Guard to offer protection.
I hope that in any future situation like Terri's Republicans in positions of power will consider historical precedents like those above. I hope they will take actions to protect human life when local authorities chose not to.
Disagree.
The whole situation was a travesty of justice, but should have been handled, or mishandled, at the state level. There is no real justification in the Constitution for bumping it up to the federal level.
Similarly, abortion should be a state not a federal issue. Which in today's world probably means abortion at will in the majority of states.
Sad, but federalism also means leaving states the right to do wrong.
Jeb Bush is most blameworthy of all who might have saved her, and he had a lot more time to find a way to save her than, say, Ted Kennedy had to save Mary Jo.
Well reasoned and well written. Thank you very much.
The right to life is the basic right upon which our country is founded. It is ALWAYS a federal issue when someone is denied the right to life without fair trial. Terri was murdered by her "husband" with the state being an accomplice.
Similarly, abortion should be a state not a federal issue. Which in today's world probably means abortion at will in the majority of states.
Life is an inalienable right. The federal government is founded on that right. Protecting life from unjust denial is a federal responsibility.
Sad, but federalism also means leaving states the right to do wrong.
Surely you are not advocating that the states have the authority to deny life to the citizens of these united States without trial (as was done to Terri) are you?
I am advocating that the Constitution leaves many of the definitions of legalities up to the states. By your criteria, almost everything becomes a federal issue, as almost everything can be (and has been) defined as involving an individual’s rights.
How’s that federalizing of all issues working out for you?
And don’t call me Shirley.
Good post. The way of Terricare is the way of Obamacare. Think abortion. Think eugenics. Think democrat/liberal/progressive/socialist/totalitarian. And while you’re pondering that...why are we in Libya? Think new buzzword/rationale “responsibility to protect” (R2P). Selective protection. Controlled beginnings. Controlled endings. Witness world history. Our lives and our liberties are trumped by the tactics of totalitarians.
God bless you and Terri Schiavo.
Life, liberty and the pursuit and destruction of totalitarians.
At the time, I echoed your sentiments about the timidity of those in power to take direct action.
Here's a piece I wrote in March, 2005 when this controversy was in full swing:
Governor Bush: The Terri Schiavo Case is Your “Birmingam Jail” Moment
Governor Bush: The Terri Schiavo Case is Your “Birmingham Jail” Moment
Crowd my eyes, you bevies of daffodils,
And you forsythias in throngs of cheer,
Dandelion galaxies and fountains of trees.
Fill my mouth with the breath of hyacinths, you purple air
And you roistering breeze.
And you quince-buds so eager, you swelling seeds,
You squirrels running stitches across the loom
Of woven grasses, inflorescent weeds;
Jasmine-bush, loop me with your lariats of perfume.
Fill me, small birds, with your versicles,
And chuckled replies.
She is bleeding from the mouth and eyes.
Sate me then, Sun, all dapple and spangle
Crowd out all else
Lade me and load me, you skies
With blessings of warmth and breath
Let me see nothing else
But everything springing and skyey.
From the mouth and eyes.
for Terri Schindler Schiavo
by Juli Loesch Wiley
Thanks for your input.
The state of Florida did have the primary responsibility and should have dealt with its out of control judge and a man whose relationship with another woman was leading him to put his wife to death.
In 1960 national and state Democrats worked together for political expediency to get around a local judge’s decision and release Martin Luther King from jail.
The whole weight of the national Republicans should have bore down on its local elements in Florida to save Terri’s life. I think there would have been benefits for Republicans politically. Instead from 2005 on it was pretty downhill for the GOP.
JFK was reluctant to do much of anything in 1961 with the Freedom Riders but his liberal and black supporters would not have tolerated the deaths of protestors in Alabama.
He sent in a lightly armed force all the while begging the governor of Alabama to take over responsibility which the governor did within hours of the feds arrival.
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