There are times in my life when I envy the absolute confidence that so many people exhibit when they pontificate on questions such as the Schiavo issue. And then there are times that the simple-mindedness underlying this confidence absolutely repels me.
I swore for a while that I wouldn't actually formulate an opinion. I don't know the medical issues, I don't know the law, and I don't pretend to be able to read the minds of either Michael Schiavo or the Schindlers.
But there's one component of this conundrum about which I have discovered that I actually have taken a side. I am strenuously opposed to the concept that moral laws should over-ride the actual legal processes of this country. This, not too put too fine a point on it, is anarchy.
American laws - including those used to determine the hierarchy empowered to make treatment decisions for the disabled - are debated and passed by representatives elected by people. If one has an argument to make about these or any other priorities, one can make them. If one believes oneself to be the mouthpiece of a God whose opinions, according to this interpretation, should supersede democratic rule, one is free to make the argument defending these interpretations.
But remember, whatever the principles, and no matter how smug the confidence engendered by these principles, there are millions of people out there, equally sincere, equally smug, who disagree. And if history is any guide at all, when the argument turns to competing smugnesses, the victory goes to the most violent.
- Moishe Potemkin
Posted by MoisheP at March 24, 2005 10:05 PMHmm, I wonder what spurred on this post?
Actually, not whom you think. The other one.
Posted by: Moishe Potemkin at March 25, 2005 03:14 PM