Terry Schiavo

Out of the really terrible tragedy of the Terry Schiavo case, I can see some positives developing. The main thing I am seeing here, I think, is that the conservative movement has over-reached in the past month or so. The first setback was the clear failure of the Bush Administration to convince the American public that we needed to scrap Social Security and replace it with something riskier and more expensive. With the Schiavo case, we are seeing the public rebel against the notion that a "culture of life," whatever that means, should allow government to intrude into our most personal and painful decisions. This whole circus has given some clarity to the concepts and cliches that the media have been trotting out. In addition to illustrating how far the "culture of life" followers will go in their beliefs, it also shows how silly the concept of "activist judges" is. The judges in this case have deliberated for years about the fate of TS, and have come to common sense conclusions that the vast majority of people can understand and agree with. If anything, it is the Republican legislators that look like activists, singling out a particular family to swoop down on and "help" with intrusive and medically ignorant legislation. Now that the far right has labeled these judges "activist," maybe the public will think twice about swallowing that term when it's used for other judges, whose real crime is simply not agreeing with the religious right.