"Terri's Law" Passes

So now the Republican leadership is getting all ready to pass "Terri's Law," which is a bill that would move jurisdiction of the case involving Terri Schiavo from state courts to the federal courts.

There is so much wrong here that I don't know where to begin.

First, it seems odd that the party that has championed federalism has decided that states shouldn't have powers when the decisions aren't in their favor. This is basically "judge-shopping" hoping to find a judge that will decide to that Ms. Schiavo needs that feeding tube. It's bad enough to lose the principle of federalism, but to game the system is just wrong.

Second, this is an abuse of power. Conservatives are normally wary of government, not because they hate it, but because they know that it's power has to be coercive. Because of that, conservatives in the past had a healthy respect for the power of government. It seems now that conservatives see government in the same way that those on the far left do, as something that can meet their objectives and damn the consequences. The Republican leadership is basically stepping into a state issue and grabbing power away from there and giving it to itself. This is robbery; there is no other word for it.

What's particularly galling is how Terri's parents have cast those who oppose them as selfish. She says,

"Please gentleman, don't use this bill as your own personal agenda," Mary Schindler said. "I'm pleading with the moms and the dads, call their congressmen. Help them pass this bill. It's very, very important."

Okay, who in the world is the one with the personal agenda? It's not the Left, for once, but members of my own party, who have twisted the law to suit their own agendas. Those who think Terri ought to die in peace are not the ones with personal agendas-her mom ought to look at the forest in her own eye before she starts looking at the splinters in other eyes.

Welcome to a Republican party and a conservatism with no principles. It's anything goes. It's the law of the jungle. If you don't like something, set a dangerous precedent to do it and damn the consequences.

Like the Israelites in the Bible, American conservatism has become corrupt. One can only hope for some time in exile as a chance to make this movement and this party what it once was.