Montana Court Ruling on Assisted Suicide: Sweet Mystery of Life at Last I've Found You or Coup d' Culture?
One final reflection the court ruling finding a constitutional right to assisted suicide in Montana. This case--which will not be the final word due to an almost certain appeal--seems to be the latest to follow the "mystery of life" approach to jurisprudence, most infamously enunciated in 1992 by Supreme Court abortion case Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, in which Justice Kennedy wrote:
Yes, of course we all have the right to decide metaphysical issues for ourselves and the state cannot force a creed or belief system upon us. But it destroys society as a coherent social organism if each individual's "concept" overrides almost all public policy considerations--such as those that are the bases of laws against assisted suicide. The consequence would seem to be a radical libertarianism with the only uniting value among and between us being "choice."At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.
Note I wrote, "would seem," not "will be." I don't believe we will end up in such a libertarian Nirvana because establishing "choice" as the reigning value of society is not the real game that is afoot. What is really happening is the imposition by the liberal intellectual elites--whose interest the courts tend to serve, or at least reflect--of the mores and social values they favor upon the rest of us. This means that there is also going to be a flip side to this particular coin. Just as those personal behaviors favored by the liberal intelligentsia will be found to be constitutionally protected, personal behaviors disfavored by these same forces will be found to be controllable by the state.
Here is how this might work out with regard to issues relevant to SHS: Just because a court might impose a constitutional right to assisted suicide doesn't mean it would also overturn futile care theory. Nor will courts judicially impose conscience clauses protecting medical professionals from participating in certain procedures they find objectionable--even though the objected to procedures were validated under the mystery of life rule.
In fields beyond our scope here, we are likely to see the imposition of norms favored by liberal elites in total disregard of "choice" of dissenters. For example, I don't doubt that the time is coming when we will not be allowed to drive a car that gets 8 miles to the gallon, or burn a fire in the fireplace, or develop our resources if it is deemed to harm the "rights" of nature. You get the drift.
So what is really happening is a coup d' culture. It is a toppling of the current social order that is based in Judeo/Christian moral philosophy--in part through court rulings based on autonomy--with the eventual legal implementation of a dramatically different value system founded in utilitarianism, hedonism, and probably, radical environmentalism. Once that process is complete, judicial rulings will inform us that "choice" has definite limits.
posted by Wesley J. Smith @ 8:19 AM
23 Comments
23 Comments:
HUH? And here I thought that at the heart of liberty was the right not to be messed with. What does "mystery of life" have to do with it. They took a generality (liberty) and used it to justify their position by defining it in terms of the specific thing they wanted to achieve. Now THAT's messing with liberty.
I agree with SHS about how things will go if the current tide isn't turned.
I understand SHS's reasoning and what it's saying, but I don't agree that the Judeo-Christian tradition is the basis of what's being toppled, though; I think it's what's at the root of what's toppling it. Too much "nice" as a perceived value is the problem; what's under threat is the "hedonistic" attitude that this life matters.
Many people scratch their heads at the rise in violence within our own culture. At times it reaches grisly dimensions and people are left babbling to themselves "how could this happen?"
The continuous devaluing of life demonstrated in part by ill-chosen legal decisions like this one has to share a large part of the blame.
Follow my reasoning: If I have a right to determine when to end a life (namely my own), why is it then wrong to choose when someone else's life should end?
Chesterton said it best: "Before you tear down any fence first find out what it was designed to keep penned up."
HHH
The rise of Humanism reflects badly upon the actual value of humans.
Actually Helm your point about choosing when to kill someone else was made by a Judge, so we already crossed that bridge. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
That Chesterton, he really knew what he was talking about.
The whole sentence from the ruling that was quoted here was full of it, but on top of everything else, where did she get that "mystery of life" bit? In a hat shop?
Ever since the Easter torture and execution of Terri Schiavo in 2006, the next big test for social tolerance was the murders of patients during Hurricane Katrina.
Since then, it has become less offensive, and a justifiable service for crises.
We've been snowed under for the past 40 years of Immigration, and instead of being expected to integrate with our culture, the third world has replaced our culture with their own.
Now, our cultural values and traditions are "offensive" to others, and have been illegalized.
We have been conquered by the Dept. of Immigrations. I don't believe at all the Census Bureau statistics, when you understand that illegal aliens alone account for tens of millions of foreign agents every year.
When I was in highschool during the '60s, I think the U.S. population was around 250 million. In 10 years of 10-15 million "illegals", that's another 100-150 million "illegals".
Now, I think the U.S. claims to be around 460 million, and I think it's pretty safe to say that between the U.S. and Canada, the populations of immigrants up to today outnumbers us.--And that is why we are outnumbered, who oppose euthanasia.
Although there are sincere immigrants who deserve a clean start in their life, the huge population of illegals are selfish gunslingers. They bring their standards of filth and diseases, and their distasteful values of human life.
All many of these people know from Africa, India, Pakistan, Mexico, South America and Europe is killing, squalor and disease.
Euthanasia is what they know at home, and that's why they push it here. Our forefathers fled the Dark Ages, but the Dark Ages came here to conquer the land.
Now, in reality, that makes those of us who were born and grew up here the minority. I do think that is "the problem"!--At least a big part of it.
The immigrant children and young adults who have been born and grew up here, are still brainwashed by their parents' foreign culture.
They really don't think like North Americans at all. Their cognitive behavior is wherever their parents are from.
Another thing which complicates things is that so many Disabled People buy into this multi-culture kick, because it's so "hip"!
I think if Disabled People took a good view of "multi-culturalism", and they saw the link between multi-culturalism and the Culture of Death, we could get more united as a culture ourselves.
How many Disabled People work so hard to be integrated with other causes?--Global Warming farce! Environmentalism! Animal Rights!
I believe in taking care of the environment, to minimize waste and pollution.--I do!
But I think Disabled People could accomplish more if there was a way to get all people with disabilities connected to Disability Rights.
I think alot of Disabled People who are not really connected to Disability Rights organizations, might be less likely to endorse euthanasia.
Until I studied about the Holocaust, and what the fate was of Disabled People, and also the history of disability murders in North America, I thought euthanasia was the way to go.
I think if disabled kids in school now could learn about the threats which face them in the future, that they would be motivated to live their lives.
I think that the best part of Disabled teens' education should include the history and problems of Disability Rights.
If today's Disabled highschool students grows up motivated to resist anybody who will exploit them, or kill them, they will be strong-willed adults.
Ironsides: I couldn't agree less with your diatribe against immigrants. Moreover, it isn't those from other countries pushing euthanasia, it is our privileged classes who feel entitled to control every aspect of life and don't seem to care much about who else might get hurt in the process. It isn't Mexican or Eastern European immigrants pushing euthanasia, it is the rich foundations and the intelligentsia from the academy. Indeed, poor people and people of color tend to oppose euthanasia. Indeed, LULAC, the biggest Latino civil rights organization is an implacable foe of assisted suicide.
Perhaps, we should change the time honored cry of "The Barbarians are at the gates," with "The Barbarians are behind the bench!"
HHH
HHH: That's right -- they're long since past the gates. In fact we've been growing barbarians right here within our gates since the 1950s.
To: Wesley J. Smith
Now I know. Thankyou for correcting me on the issue.
It's obvious that I'm wrong to blame immigration for being a big part of the problem. That being said, there are several events which gave fuel to my accusation.
In September 2003, Terri Schiavo's parents and lawyer believed that Catholic and Latino Judge Lazarra would rule in favor of Terri's family.
Instead, he pushed ahead Terri's execution that year for October 15,2003.
Other things I have paid attention to, is that in Canada there have been more than one case, where immigrant families have killed their disabled family members.
In the Canadian documentary, "Suicide Tourists", one couple, Mr. and Mrs. Coumbias, just wanted a romantic execution before they get 'too old' and lose their autonomy.
They are immigrants from Europe. Both couples on the documentary got to poison whoever watched it on CTV's W-Five program.
They poisoned everybody for two hours, with their rotten attitude toward anybody who needs assistance to do basic survival needs.
Then there are Derek Humphrey and Peter Singer. I don't think either of them is American born.
Anyway, these points influenced my spin on immigration and euthanasia.
Hello Ironsides. I take it you are no fan of Sven Robinson either.
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=de02045d-51b1-4f4b-aa1a-157f3f79651b
Wesley is quite correct about this topic being international in origin. The voices that preach against fighting to maintain life come from every all spectrum in society. W5 specializes in these self serving media attempts to taint choice from both sides of their mouths. Increases viewership according to which ever view they feel to gain the most ratings from.
Donnie, Svend Robinson is a guy I really had fun with, not in person, but with people around me.
I used to just really cut-up about his time in prison, for stealing jewelry for his lover, and needing to get out so he could get to the next World Federation of the Right-to-Die Societies.
The link you posted yesterday to Canada.com really impressed me. I read the article about Margaret Somerville, and also the comments.
I sure wish I had known about it at the time, because I was so tempted to comment on it today. However, that article and comments are from June 2008.
What I noticed is the usual mockery of anybody who has religious convictions against euthanasia.
The argument about any euthanasia debate having to be secular because of Canadians' change of values, doesn't have any priority with me at all.
Some of these big-shot student critics love to thumb their noses at euthanasia opponents, and think it's their right to make "secular debate" the law.
Since North America was founded on religious freedom and moral values in respect to human life, everybody who does not appreciate our values should move off North American soil.
As far as I'm concerned, since we are so offensive to these "open-minded", "ever-tolerant" selfish individualists, let the U.S. and Canadian governments set the ground rules:
Those who don't like the Right-to-Life don't belong here. Things could only improve with a smaller population again, a population which does not have to apologize to the Secular cult for our moral values, and religious beliefs.
In my opinion, they have had around forty years for the so-called debate on euthanasia. I think the debate is over. Euthanasia is a crime; it is not a debate issue!
As you know ,I have strong Religious convictions Ironside. However ,if I were a secular hedonist I would still be fighting against the death culture. I believe the Spartan Society disappeared because they killed the weaker members that I would protect and in so doing they lost the greater portion of humanity. Compassion to protect those who need a helping hand till death .
People expected that a Catholic organization would not pull the plug on anyone, but it has. Judges, including Catholic judges, authorized it.
It is true that illegal immigration has been straining hospitals and other health care resources at the same time that the death culture has been accelerating and the utilitarian argument that resources must not be "wasted" on the "less viable" have been prevailing, and the influx of immigrants in England, with consequent strain on their health care resources, could be a factor in the kind of things that are being said and done in that country. But unless that's going on, and as much as or more than it is here, in Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Scotland, it doesn't help to explain the foothold the death culture has gotten there.
I agree about the rotten attitude of those who promote the death culture poisoning those who listen to them.
Though I'm not religious in my orientation, and I do believe that religious and intellectual freedom, and liberty in general, were among the principles on which this country was founded, I wouldn't mind if we managed to quash the death culture completely in this country, which i believe would go hand in hand with re-establishing our productivity and prosperity, and became the example to the world that we were designed to be. Obama and company are yakking about how our image with the rest of the world is tarnished, and they don't even acknowledge why.
Ianthe, Obama's political machine worked hard to discredit McCain and Sarah Palin, but Obama turned around and pretty much implemented McCain fundamentals.
He can boast all he wants about the world's contempt for the U.S. Out of all the complainers, exactly what other nation on earth ever rebuilt the countries they went to war with?
How I see Obama, is he is one pathetic choice for President. He spelled out both with ignorance and arrogance, his position on the 2005 Easter torture and execution of Terri Schiavo.
Sad to say, the U.S. has picked fights with countries under various excuses, and used it to make the hardware and ammunitions industry in D.O.D. rake in huge profits for the companies involved.
Aside from those aspects, the critics don't complain about the increased living standards and greatly improved quality of life they enjoy, at the Americans' expense.
Those critics and complainers don't complain about the fact that areas of the world have a public education system, health-care and democracy, which they never had before.
Recently, I noticed that a Canadian woman was working in Afghanistan with disabled children. The Taliban were really thankful.--They blew her away!
They don't say "thankyou", either! They just take like leaches, and spend generations thumbing their noses at the U.S. who gave them more than they ever had before.
I'm so used to the euthanasia militants being Secular dictators, that I keep forgetting that there are non-religious people who also reject the new fad.
I'm a long-term patient in a hospital for chronic respiratory patients. In 2006 I sustained a serious decline from a killer drug, and since then I'm oxygen dependent 24/7.
There is a constant turn-over of McGill students here, who work and volunteer in the recreation department.
As a result, I notice the unity of perception on euthanasia or assisted-suicide. They are careful to defend legalizing it, but with built-in protection.
They find it hard to believe that Oregon's law has broken the rules. An online friend of mine in Oregon won't talk to me any more, after I sent the link for her to read, about the 10 Year report on Assisted-suicide.
To make things worse, I sent her the story of the cancer patients in Oregon being refused cancer treatments, but were advised to take the euthanasia drugs which are covered by state health insurance.
This lady in Oregon, and people around me here carry on, that if there was any executions against people's choice, it would be all over the news, and Americans just would not stand for it.
Since the Death Cult controls the mainstream news media, the unsolicited killings just keep on happening. Also, for the exception of a few cases, they get a single shot in the news, and nobody remembers a few days later.
Ironsides: Obama is a disaster, in my view. I'm fed up with the way this country gets treated, too. We're full of idiots within, and the rest of the world takes their cue from that.
My father was in hospital with asthma and emphysema for a very long time; my mother ended up on a ventilator because of a hospital's mistakes, and the hospital went to court, I fought it as hard as I could and won as many rounds as I could, and they murdered her by removing the ventilator on August 29; she wanted to live but had made a living will she did not want honored and they used that as the excuse; but they've done the same to others who did not even have "living wills." What's the 10 Year report on assisted suicide? Oh, yes, they carry on, that if it happened, it would be all over the news, and people just would not stand for it. Ha! It was all over the news here, and on the internet, with "living will" and "coma" (she wasn't in one and the doctors never even had told me she was) and all the months she had been "in a coma" (which she wasn't) thrown around in every other sentence, and no one did anything. Plus, they kept printing her age, and the world, like the hospital, thinks now that if someone is old, they are supposed to die. After the final appellate court ruling, in which the judge whose presence had saved her in the previous ruling did not participate, the hospital chose the Friday of Labor Day weekend to murder her, and there hasn't been a word on it since, except for stories saying that she was dead and that her funeral was going to take place, just as Stephen Drake predicted there wouldn't be when he noted that they had done the murder on a "news dump" day. Legalizing it "with built-in protection" -- that's a laugh. These are the same people who go for government-run health care and elected Obama. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't end up getting inaugurated, though. I'm sorry about what you're going through. It sounds as if a medication damaged your lungs and you're on oxygen, but not a vent or trach? Don't start me on the stuff that the pharmaceutial industry puts out...
Ironsides: I should correct that -- she may have signed a living will, amidst a number of other documents all at the same time; it wasn't her idea to have one, as even the attorney who had her sign documents testified, and she never mentioned it to me or that it was her wish, and I was her health care proxy and had been via previous documents as well. I agree with you that all the disabled need to organize and speak up very loud. The elderly do, too. And everyone have to understand that the dangers really exist, and can affect them.
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-1BVRBMs4aalod9fGs6jiHTj9pVM-?cq=1&p=131
Ianthe, the link here is one of my blogs on what happened to me between May 9-June 17,2008.
I'm glad it's over, but I want to tell everybody who will pay attention, that there has been a very major shift taken place in hospital environments.
Anyway, I think we have strayed off course from the main topic here, Montana legalizing mass executions.
Ya know those "safeguard" talkers?--There is no such thing as safeguards.
In the 40 years since Holland gradually tested the killing field in the '60s, exactly when did they ever call off a execution, because of some stupid make-believe "safeguard"???
Ironsides: Thank you. I'll try to find it (I'm not good with these things but I want to read it. Do I type everything from http to 131 into the Google search space?)
I saw what's going on in hospital environments this last year. I know there have always been problems in hospitals, but I never could have imagined this -- no one could have, that's how far out of line they are. I know now why my mother didn't want to go to hospital at all, that's for sure. T
I didn't realize Holland started this in the 1960s.
The "safeguard" stuff is baloney.It's just a way to fool people into accepting it.
Copy and paste the link into a web browser url address field, not a search engine.
It is the link to the blog post about what happened to me earlier this year, in two different ICU's.
Originally, I just had a lazer procedure scheduled. They needed to put me to sleep, which meant I needed a breathing-tube put in.
They failed to get a tube in, and had to call in a surgeon to perform an emergency tracheosectomy.
When I woke up, time had run out for the surgery. The trache had complications, and it was around five weeks before a urologist could remove my bladder stone.
The blog post explains the behavior of ICU nurses, and the fact that twice I would have died from a heart-attack.
Read about the temper-tantrums two ICU nurses threw, and one nurse got so mad one day, he nearly smashed the monitor.
My blood-pressure was 203/168, and he was furious that I demanded to call the doctor.
Ironsides: When I returned from a brief nap to my mother's bedside, I found her lying flat, not at 30 degrees as she was supposed to be (it was a respiratory i.c.u. to boot and she had pneumonia, temporary congestive heart failure, etc.), and she looked gray, exhausted; I thought this could be it. I went out to get the nurse, who had forgotten to put her back up to 30 degrees and just left her lying flat, and who was now doing paperwork and wanted me to wait until she was finished; I got her to go back in, and she called in another nurse to help her "correct the situation" and wouldn't call a doctor; I said, calmly but firmly, "I want a doctor here right now"; my mother looked extremely grateful; the nurse said, "If you're going to be disrepectful to me, I'm going to call security." I went out and talked to the charge nurse, who instantly understood and called a resident; meanwhile, in seconds, a security guard arrived, and was watching me talk to the charge nurse with a look on his face that indicated clearly that if he were I, he'd be doing exactly what I was; the resident arrived, checked out my mother, and bawled out the nurse. I asked the patient relations guy at the hospital not to let that nurse be assigned to my mother again. Some time later, I'm waiting for the elevator and the nurse was there and said remember me, I'm so and so from unit such and such, as if I'd be glad to see her and nothing had happened. Some PEOPLE.... I reminded her that I remembered. I could tell you stuff that happened to my mother in hospital that you wouldn't want to hear. She didn't come out alive. Not just nurses, horrible as what some of them did was. Someone who works in a mental health office told me that 45 per cent of their clients are nurses, and that they're miserable...in both senses. When they're good, they're wonderful.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Bioethics/message/10597
This link is what I wrote about the behavior and attitude of care-givers. You can't blame patients for wanting to get terminated, when they are subjected to care-givers who yell at them, push them around the bed like cargo.
What I've found with the people around me, is that since the administration learned that there are real problems here, they listen to me when I explain a problem incident.
Because I have made life miserable for the little cliques, over what they did in the past 8 years, if a care-giver behaves contrary to the rules the Head-Nurses and me agreed to, either the Head-Nurses fix it quick.--Or the badboy confronts the workers.
That's what administration worries about now. We get along really good, and they don't want to evict me. But when I lay into workers directly, they play the victim game, refuse to come to work, and there is a shortage of students who want to work at these jobs.
A real question somebody needs to answer is, why do these people who take courses to work at hospitals and long-term care institutions develop the bossy, inconsiderate and abusive personality they do?
I think that the courses need to include a course in psychology (if they don't). They need to learn that they are here to make life easier for the patients.
They need to realize that they are here to make people's lives liveable, not regret that they landed here.
The Head-Nurses and admins to care about the patients here, and making them comfortable. They have assured me since the cleanup of this place three years ago, that workers go home after shift, thinking about if there was something they could have maybe done differently, or better, to make their patients happy. She said they think about if there is something they can do the next day, to make a patient more comfortable, etc.
At least the administration here do have a caring attitude. They interviewed every nurse and PA, and they have hired new workers to replace the ones who got fired, and the ones who resigned in support of anyone who was fired 3 years ago.
So here, things have improved a fair bit. Still, some of the self-centered attitude toward patients is happening again.
Because so few people are available to be trained for this type of work, last week I was summoned to a meeting over eviction, if I verbally tie into another worker like I did two weeks ago.
I told them flat-out, like I have through the years that when a situation is serious at the moment, and the Head-Nurse is not even at work that day, it needs to be resolved on the spot.
They don't agree, and want me to just leave a voice-mail about the incidents, as they occur.
So, as much as possible I'm trying to stick to that agreement.--Voice-mail! I can't afford to get the boot from this hell-hole, due to my own medical decline.
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