The juxtaposed front-page headlines said it all.
On the right, in huge type, " Shootings Ravage City Neighborhoods ". On the left (though it just screams "far right") "Congress tries again to stop Schiavo death". Both with full-color pictures of anguished mothers.
If ever there was a fitting tribute to the inequality, insensitivity, and intemperate political pandering in America today, it was perceptively showcased in the Sunday, March 20, Philadelphia Inquirer.
Terri Schiavo's feeding tube had been removed, by almost 30 court decisions, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Five times. The sad end to a torturous fifteen years, and a soul-wrenching family battle. No winners, just resolution and closure.
But where there is media coverage, there are politicians, urged on by a cadre of demonstrators who only have respect for medical, ethical, and legal decisions that suit themselves. Those politicians know that white-skinned ultra-conservatives who are motivated to protest, and shamefully have their own children arrested, are also motivated to vote.
In the end, it was the pols (who accept campaign contributions) on one side, and the courts (who do not) on the other. For some leaders, unable to deliver to the right-wingers on abortion and gay marriage, this was their chance to do some big-time posturing.
Like Rev. Patrick Mahoney, Christian Defense Coalition representative, who called for Governor Bush to send Florida law enforcement officers to "come in and take Terri". "A citizen of your state is being brutally murdered," he said. "You need to intervene." On behalf of one citizen .
Which brings us to the picture on the right, and a situation totally ignored by those same activists and politicians. Twenty-two people killed by guns in Philadelphia in eleven days. More than one a day in 2005. Last October, nineteen - NINETEEN ! - were plugged in one day! In 2004, there were only eleven days when no one was shot in Philly. And if Columbine has slipped your mind, we witnessed a replay in Minnesota.
With incredible slaughters like these, where is the Congressional outrage, the Senatorial outcry? Where is the same religious fervor that defended Terri Schiavo? Where is Rev. Mahoney? Did President Bush cut short his vacation to fly home and urge legislation to stop this national pandemic? Of course not.
Urban shooting victims, and their families, are, for the most part, minorities, poor, and historically less likely to vote or contribute. They have no national network, no Operation Rescue, no political action committees.
The Schiavo saga focused national attention anew on the right to die with dignity, though there is precious little of that left here. As medical science has allowed us to prolong, and thereby redefine "lifetime", families agonize with decisions regarding life support every day.
In fact, George W signed a 1999 Texas law that permits doctors and local courts to disconnect such devices even when families are opposed! Forward-thinking people prepare living wills, which make it clear that they do, or do not, wish relatives, and doctors, to take heroic measures to keep portions of their bodies alive after others have shut down.
Terri Schiavo had no such document, leaving her husband, and parents, to fight a public battle over what she "would have wanted". Both were very sure they knew, and it doesn't matter which side you, or I, are on. What does matter are the huge political ramifications of how the battle was resolved.
The State of Florida had already decided that it had no right to interfere. That should have been the end of the story, especially from a Republican party that has forever championed States Rights. But what's a little waffling when there are ultra-conservatives to appease?
You may support Terri Schiavo's parents one thousand percent, but Terri is the small matter here. The battle was over the federal government's right to invalidate decisions already made by state courts. How much government do YOU want ?
It is only reasonable to expect that if the feds had been allowed to intervene, then, under the same Big Brother agenda, they could take control in similar, and, eventually, not-so-similar family decisions. Yours, perhaps.
The obvious targets are arguments over feeding tubes, ventilators, and dialysis machines. But where do we draw the line? How about disagreements over medications, choice of physicians, and risky surgery? Or whether there should be medical intervention at all. And who will pay for the astronomical cost of extraordinary long-term care forced on a family? Your taxes?
George Orwell was just a little too early with the date 1984.
Michael Schiavo fought a long, drawn-out battle because he didn't choose his allies carefully. He foolishly thought that medical experts, religious ethicists, and the Supreme Court would be enough. He should have enlisted the tobacco lobby, and the National Rifle Association...
What are the chances that Congress, and even the president, will rush to save the lives of the millions of people who are killing themselves, and others around them, every day - cigarette smokers? Conservative votes are second in importance only to huge campaign contributions.
And, despite thousands of deaths from guns every year, including the appalling situations in Philadelphia and Minnesota, firearm laws are being loosened rather than tightened. Assault weapons, the birthright of every patriotic American, are now legal again.
And minorities in Philadelphia are catching bullets in record numbers. But Congress, and Mr. Bush, aren't scrambling for emergency legislation. Operation Rescue, and the Society for Truth and Justice, aren't taking up this cause. There are no robed brothers speaking for these brothers and sisters.
When pandering politicians say "protect American values", and "save lives", they don't mean those lives.