Democrats Remained Divided Over Assisted Suicide
A major reason that assisted suicide has not moved beyond Oregon in this country is that the Democratic Party remains divided about the issue--despite some of its more left leaning members seeking to transform the issue into a Democratic Agenda item. Proof is in the inability of Democrats Patty Berg and Lloyd Levine to pass A.B. 651 last year in the California Legislature--both houses of which are dominated by Democrats.
Further proof of this can be found in the vote breakdown by party in Vermont, which just defeated assisted suicide:
Democrats: 55 Yes --- 36 No
Republicans: 2 Yes --- 45 No
Other: 6 Yes --- 1 No
Total: 63 Yes --- 82 No
Good for the no-voting Democrats who have not forgotten that the party is supposed to be about protecting the most vulnerable of society's members.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 11:06 AM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
Deep Toad: I am stunned that anyone on the Left would support assisted suicide. I can only conclude that too many on that side of the political street decide what to support or oppose based on what religious conservatives support or oppose. Since the Religious Right opposes assisted suicide, many leftists support it--it is entirely reactive. They also get all caught up in the "choice" argument and don't think about the usual societal contexts that liberals most often get exorcised about, e.g. HMOs, people lacking health insurance, elder abuse, etc.
That noted, here is a very partial list of those on the Left who have opposed assisted suicide:
Ralph Nader
Bill Clinton
Jesse Jackson
Nat Hentoff
Left, Right, who gives a flying flip - the important thing is protecting the American People, who are all voters, tax payers, normal folks who enjoy a good movie, the people who donate time and effort to the local PTO, just plain human beings.
Anybody in politics should cringe at the thought of even one more tax payer being taken out of the world too soon. Besides, killing people is immoral, or else why are so many of us opposed to the death penalty?
If you don't think it's moral to kill a prisoner who murdered other people, then you shouldn't think it's moral to kill an old person who never did anything to you, or a disabled person who can't do anything because he's not in his head right now.
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