TerriÂ's Legacy, It Is Time for a Real Culture of Life Bill From Progressive America; Terri's Law
By Anthony Wade
March 31, 2005
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 Â"Culture of LifeÂ" 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 TerriÂ's Law would have to federally protect Medicaid, Medicare, and State ChildrenÂ'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 TerriÂ's medications.
A nation that affirms a culture of life insures the most vulnerable are always taken care of.
The third tenet of TerriÂ's Law would need to guarantee to the citizens of this country the ability to seek legal redress when victimized. The tort reform bandwagon is laden with millions of dollars of donations to the GOP from special interests who seek protection from being sued. The truth is that frivolous lawsuits are NOT a factor in increased healthcare costs, as they amount to less than 1% of healthcare costs. Tort reform is simply siding with corporations over people. The truth is that Terri Schiavo would never have had the money to pay for her treatment for fifteen years if Tom Delay and Bill Frist had their way. The hypocrisy from Delay is especially disturbing as his family actually sued and won the exact types of damages he is so bent on eliminating when his father passed away 20 years ago. The Delays won a quarter of a million dollars in pain and suffering and loss of companionship damages. Now, he wants to take away your right to seek the same legal redress. Terri Schiavo won malpractice lawsuits and as a result was awarded the money that was then used to care for her. Any type of TerriÂ's Law, needs to protect the rights of citizens who are aggrieved.
A nation that affirms a culture of life insures that people can seek recovery when wronged.
The fourth tenet, and most important right now, is that a Culture of Life bill must address state laws which allow corporations to decide the life and death of citizens. In Texas, there is a law that killed a six month old child a few weeks ago. The child was born with a very rare and severe form of dwarfism. The child was six months old when the hospital decided, against the wishes of the mother, to kill the child. The hospital stated it was mercy because the child was non-responsive. The mother emphatically disagreed with the hospital and tried to get media coverage but the hospital refused to allow the media to film the child. The fact of the matter is Sun Hudson is dead today because his mother was poor. So poor, she had no prenatal care, which could have spotted the problems in-utero, yet another argument for mandatory health care. This poor mother was granted ten days to find another treating facility that would take the child, without any money. None agreed and they pulled the respirator. The state of Texas murdered a six month old child while we were all weeping for Terri Schiavo. The person who signed the Texas law was none other than George W. Bush, Mr. Culture of Life himself. The state of Texas is also the home state of the new poster child of hypocrisy, Tom Delay. If Terri Schiavo is to have any legacy at all, it must be to end this practice of corporate-sponsored, state-sanctioned, financially-driven, murder.
A nation that affirms a culture of life does not allow money to dictate who lives and who dies.
The fifth tenet of a TerriÂ's Law would have to be allowing independent oversight of all environmental laws to ensure the safety and continued lives of the citizens of this planet. You cannot pretend to care about life, and pass laws that uniformly damage the health of people around this world. As I have reported before the Bush administration has passed a most ridiculous system that actually encourages companies to not clean up their mercury pollution. Most of the environmental changes made by Bush were only designed to benefit corporations, at the expense of the health of all Americans. Destroying the environment is not supportive of a culture of life. If TerriÂ's life could have this kind of long-reaching impact, that would be truly amazing.
A nation that affirms a culture of life protects the environment, and thus extends the life of its citizens.
Lastly, any TerriÂ's Law needs to set up a nation wide system of mandatory living wills. Without these documents there can be no guarantee that the Tom Delay traveling circus does not end up on your lawn one day. When we turn 18 we mandate signing up for the selective service. When drivers licenses are granted, people need to chose to be an organ donor or not. A similar mandate can be demanded from people, to make their choices in unambiguous terms. TerriÂ's life and now her death seem to cry out for this measure.
Terri Schiavo has passed and her legacy, if any, will take shape over the next year. If we allow the GOP to shape that legacy, you will hear about Schiavo this summer when Bush tries to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. You will hear about judicial tyranny and how Bush needs his nominees approved to reign in the judiciary. DonÂ't let them fool you. The judge in this case was a conservative republican. Of the 19 judges that reviewed the Schiavo case, many more were republican. The conservative, GOP-controlled Supreme Court was asked five times to intervene, and they refused. Just like there is no social security crisis, there is no out-of-control judiciary. What we had, was one of the most vetted and debated court cases in this countryÂ's history that has reached its end today.
Legacy though still awaits Terri Schiavo. The GOP used her to bring to the forefront the issue of life and how they claim to be the party of life. The term we heard repeatedly was that they believed in a Â"culture of lifeÂ". Now is the time to hold them to their words. If you believe, truly believe in a culture of life, then you must support that which supports life. The core of that culture of life must include:
Mandatory health care for all
The elderly and children are always taken care of.
People can always seek legal redress when harmed.
Equal protection for life, regardless of money.
Environmental protections to increase life spans.
Mandatory living wills.
This is not socialism, it is common sense. It is time to put up or shut up. A smart progressive needs to craft this legislation and let the representatives vote what they truly believe in. It is time to line up on what side you actually are on. It is time to see if there is any real action behind the empty rhetoric we have heard so much about.
A culture of life does not allow 40 million people to have no healthcare, killing 18,000 people unnecessarily per year. It does not allow the raping of the environment, corporate protections at the cost of legal redress, and balancing the budget by cutting healthcare to the elderly and children, while handing millions to the richest with your other hand. A culture of life does more than talk about life. It does more then show up on the lawn of Terri Schiavo for a two week period in the lifetime of America. It does more than provide photo-ops and snazzy catch-lines. It says that if you believe in life than you must care equally for the six month old black child in Texas then you did for the 41 year old white woman in Florida. It says ALL life, regardless of age, ethnicity, medical state, or financial circumstances get treated with the same reverence.
If you cannot do that, then the culture of life are just words without meaning. They are just a phrase you like to say but do not really believe in. They were just two weeks of your life, pretending to care about a woman you never met, and one day will forget. The culture of life cannot be just a passing snapshot in the photo album of this country. Terri deserves better than that. She deserves her law, to truly care about a culture of all life, not just the lives of the politically expedient.
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.
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