It's time for a Real "Culture of Life" Bill - great column

[DesEtoiles]

Terri’s Legacy, It Is Time for a Real Culture of Life Bill From Progressive America; Terri's Law


By Anthony Wade

 

March 31, 2005



www.OpEdNews.com


 The circus is finally over, Terri Schiavo has gone home. The side-show has packed up their tents and will head home, learning nothing, and soon forgetting a woman that sparked such outrage. That is unless someone does not let that happen. The GOP will feign indignation and try to use Mrs. Schiavo as a weapon to reign in a judiciary they feel is out of control but all you need to know about the judge in this case is that he was a republican. There is no out of control judiciary. The true sad fact of the Schiavo case is that at every turn when someone could have intervened on behalf of life, it was a GOP decision to allow her death. The primary judge was a conservative from the GOP. The Supreme Court also refused multiple times to intervene and is controlled by the GOP. The speculation about possible executive intervention focused on two men, George and Jeb Bush, both of which stood by and did nothing while Terri died. The GOP will not do anything about this case except try and use it to their political advantage, which is all they have done for the past two weeks. No, the true legacy of Terri Schiavo needs to come from the progressives in this country. It is time to have the GOP put their money where their mouths are and pass a “Culture of Life” bill, honoring Terri Schiavo.

 

The first tenet of a Culture of Life Bill must demand healthcare for all Americans in this country. I do not want to hear any more of the right-wing talking points about socialism meant only to distract from the pitiful reality that in the richest country in the world, there are 40 million people who do not have healthcare. Because of these shortages in healthcare, there are 18,000 unnecessary deaths per year. That has to be completely unacceptable in a civilized society. Anyone who truly believes in a culture of life has to support a plan that would eliminate 18,000 unnecessary annual deaths. Without healthcare, Terri Schiavo would not have lasted the 15 years that she did and progress to the point that she became the cause celebre of a nation.

 

A nation that affirms a culture of life insures that everyone has access to healthcare.

 

The second tenet of any Terri’s Law would have to federally protect Medicaid, Medicare, and State Children’s Health Insurance Program from any federal budget cuts. Sound impossible? No, it is simply a matter of making priorities. The fact of the matter is that balancing the federal budget on the backs of the poorest people in this country is not the kind of philosophy that asserts life. If you hold tax cuts for the rich in one hand and the ensuring of healthcare and continued lives of the elderly and children in this country in the other, I would assume that believing in a culture of life demands that the tax cuts get shelved. Terri received her medications through Medicaid and just the cuts alone that Tom Delay is currently demanding would have jeopardized Terri’s medications.

 http://www.opednews.com/wade_033105_terris_law.htm

[DesEtoiles]

1. Contact the author here:

Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites.  A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.


Anthony Wade’s Archive:     http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm


Email Anthony:          [email protected]

[jwirr]

2. I would like to see Dems

like Kennedy put together an opposing bill (to the one the repugs have) that will call them on their hypocrisy. Come on legislators, get with it. We need to call them on the fact that life is dependent on more than one womans feeding tube. Answer the Texas murder bill, now, before they let another black (poor) baby die.

[Vinca]

NOW is the time to do it. They can't babble on about

"sanctity of life," "culture of life," "right to life" and "erring on the side of life" when 15% of the population is uninsured. Don't the 18,000 destined for an early death deserve the same consideration as Mrs. Schiavo? This is a great article. It should be on the front page of the New York Times. (P.S. When Congress was voting on the Schiavo legislation, I emailed more than 100 Senators and Congressmen about this very issue and haven't heard a peep from any of them.)

[OneBlueSky]

3. quality of the idea: priceless . . . chances of it ever happening . . .

zero . . . nada . . . none . . .

unless the country first wakes up and restores citizen authority over corporations . . . and revokes the ridiculous notion that corporations are persons . . . without that, the rest of this proposal is just so much fluff . . .

http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/

[DesEtoiles]

4. make the hypocrites answer to it in public, while running for office

[lithalle]

5. at least it's something

I just emailed my senator an excerpt of the article and an appeal to make it happen.

I'm so incredibly frustrated over what has happen to this country in the past 4 months that I almost feel crushed by the enormity of it. We need a voice. We need someone to stand tall and call them on their lies and hypocrisy. Where is our party in this discussion? Let's us their words to highlight their inhumanity and injustice.