Thursday, March 24, 2005
Federalism is dead - Film at 11
It has been a hoot watching the Democrats and other socialists getting their frilly, pink panties in a bunch over the death of Federalism - after all, these are the same folks who danced gleefully when the SCOTUS rammed a schiv into the back of the 10th Amendment only a week-or-so ago with regard to the "juvenile" death penalty, right? Oh, and on the subject of federal court intervention into state affairs - can anyone say "Roe v. Wade"? Funny, I don't seem to recall the leftists being too upset over that little piece of federal activism - must have missed that.
Seriously, I (being both a process and social conservative) am distressed at the actions taken by Congress and GWB in the Schiavo case, but I'm equally distressed at the fact that my side seems to be getting our Constitutional teeth kicked-in by an out-of-control judiciary and a left-wing in the US that has very successfully turned everything into a (pun intended) federal case.
So, if Federalism is indeed dead (a loss that I would greatly mourn), should we unilaterally disarm and turn the future of our country over to an emboldened leftist fringe and leave ourselves entirely at the tender mercies of an out-of-control court system? If every issue is indeed going to become a "federal case", then isn't it best that our elected representatives, and not a cotillion of unelected, lifetime appointees, be the ones driving that bus?
Granted, it gives me no joy to think along these lines - but with the Senate GOP not demonstrating the stones required to even get Bush's qualified appellate nominees a simple up-or-down vote, I don't see the composition of the courts changing greatly in the near future.
I suppose what I'm saying is that the GOP abandoning their Federalist traditions scares me less, much less in fact, than leaving every issue in society in the hands of a leftist judiciary.
What a God-awful horrible choice.
For the record on the Schiavo case...
I am very sympathetic to the arguments made on behalf of Terry's parents. If an error is going to be made, I would much prefer to err on the side of caution and keep the feeding tube in place - I hardly consider provision of water and food to be an "extraordinary means" for survival.
Michael Schiavo looks like pond-scum - he is a wholly unlikable, unctuous piece of filth who has changed his story repeatedly (how come it took him 7-years to recall that Terry would never want to be kept alive this way?) and clearly does not seem to have the best interests of his estranged wife at heart.
That said, I have a hard time understanding how the original ruling of the Florida trial court (Judge Greer, is it?) was wrong on the law. For better or worse, the spouse is the "family" in the eyes of the court and the spouse in this case said that the patient's wishes would be for the tube to be removed. As I understand it, this was the only court that stated this as a "finding of fact" - a ruling that has now been sustained on appeal several times.
The solution seems to me to be - you don't like the law, change the law. It would appear that Gov. Jeb Bush and the FL legislature are doing just that, but I fail to see why this couldn't have all been done months if not years ago.
I will not speculate on the politics of this other than to say that I think it's a wash. The American electorate has the attention span of a flea on crack - there is every reason to believe that this will be long forgotten come November 2006 by all but the activists on both sides - and they already know who they're voting for.
Cross-posted at Random Thoughts.
Seriously, I (being both a process and social conservative) am distressed at the actions taken by Congress and GWB in the Schiavo case, but I'm equally distressed at the fact that my side seems to be getting our Constitutional teeth kicked-in by an out-of-control judiciary and a left-wing in the US that has very successfully turned everything into a (pun intended) federal case.
So, if Federalism is indeed dead (a loss that I would greatly mourn), should we unilaterally disarm and turn the future of our country over to an emboldened leftist fringe and leave ourselves entirely at the tender mercies of an out-of-control court system? If every issue is indeed going to become a "federal case", then isn't it best that our elected representatives, and not a cotillion of unelected, lifetime appointees, be the ones driving that bus?
Granted, it gives me no joy to think along these lines - but with the Senate GOP not demonstrating the stones required to even get Bush's qualified appellate nominees a simple up-or-down vote, I don't see the composition of the courts changing greatly in the near future.
I suppose what I'm saying is that the GOP abandoning their Federalist traditions scares me less, much less in fact, than leaving every issue in society in the hands of a leftist judiciary.
What a God-awful horrible choice.
For the record on the Schiavo case...
I am very sympathetic to the arguments made on behalf of Terry's parents. If an error is going to be made, I would much prefer to err on the side of caution and keep the feeding tube in place - I hardly consider provision of water and food to be an "extraordinary means" for survival.
Michael Schiavo looks like pond-scum - he is a wholly unlikable, unctuous piece of filth who has changed his story repeatedly (how come it took him 7-years to recall that Terry would never want to be kept alive this way?) and clearly does not seem to have the best interests of his estranged wife at heart.
That said, I have a hard time understanding how the original ruling of the Florida trial court (Judge Greer, is it?) was wrong on the law. For better or worse, the spouse is the "family" in the eyes of the court and the spouse in this case said that the patient's wishes would be for the tube to be removed. As I understand it, this was the only court that stated this as a "finding of fact" - a ruling that has now been sustained on appeal several times.
The solution seems to me to be - you don't like the law, change the law. It would appear that Gov. Jeb Bush and the FL legislature are doing just that, but I fail to see why this couldn't have all been done months if not years ago.
I will not speculate on the politics of this other than to say that I think it's a wash. The American electorate has the attention span of a flea on crack - there is every reason to believe that this will be long forgotten come November 2006 by all but the activists on both sides - and they already know who they're voting for.
Cross-posted at Random Thoughts.
# posted by Doc J @ 10:04 AM 
