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3.25.05

The Battle over Terri Schiavo’s Corpse

By Mark Grueter

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"There are times when the ending of life is the best that life offers. Moral man will see this, and then, more than ever, he will know the full price of freedom.” Catholic theologian Daniel C. Maguire, 1974

The Schiavo case was a thrilling one for many reasons.* First, it was, in important ways, a reenactment of the Scopes Trial, with secular common sense pitted against religious quackery. The case exposed - rather than created - a real divide in the culture. That a theocratic Congress and its collaborator in the White House were able to pass a law undermining years of litigation shows that this battle is far from over. The assortment of fanatics and fools who insisted that Terri Schiavo’s body be kept on the tube (aka life support) will not go away without a sustained verbal beating. We have to fight this gang of peasants with the same level of intensity which they themselves manufacture as a result of their diabolical religious fervor.

However, Democratic politicians and other tepid defenders of Terri Schiavo’s right to die typically began their arguments with throat-clearing assurances on how “sad” and “tragic” it was, they believed, to let her die. But, it was neither - putting an end to the whole charade was a great thing. The only regret is that we now have to wait it out, when she ought to have been given a lethal injection a long time ago. The day Schiavo finally pushes on will be the best day of her life - and yes, the best day of Michael Schiavo’s life too - since the day before her heart attack 15 years ago.

Sidney Blumenthal waxed poetically but pessimistically on the subject yesterday: “Terri Schiavo cannot speak or gesture, but to true believers, she is making sounds only they can hear. They see what they want in order to believe and they believe in order to see. For the first time, public policy in the United States is being made on the basis of pitting invisible signs vs. science.”

Right, except that we won, Sidney, and the "necrophiliacs" lost. It is reassuring to know we have a court system (the Supreme Court refused to hear the bogus appeal on four separate occasions) capable of withstanding an onslaught from a mob who pretended to believe the body of Schiavo was worth preserving - in a revolting a state that no honest person would want to exist. Had the feeding tube failed at some point in the future, no doubt calls would’ve gone out ‘round the countryside to have the woman's frame put on dry ice.

Scores of doctors, judges and lawyers reviewed the case for over seven years and concluded (1) that she was in a permanent vegetative state on life support (yes, a feeding tube is now considered ‘life support’) with no hope of recovery, (2) that Schiavo herself would not have chosen to carry on in such a condition (which means she should’ve been in the grave or the urn a long time ago) and (3) her husband Michael - her legal custodian who had been performing the brunt of the dirty work for Terri over the years - was altruistic in his care and conern for her.

And yet, we are told by Johnny-come-lately, intellectual and moral peasants like Sean Hannity, Joe Liebermann and Peggy Noonan (“the Bride of Jesus,” according to James Wolcott) that taking Terri off the tube is tantamount to “murder.” Murder? One thought comes to mind: I wonder how many of the self-imagined ‘defenders of life’ would’ve seriously committed to taking Terri into their homes to administer and maintain the tube and care themselves? Or how long such a grotesque display would’ve lasted? Obviously, the Schindler family would've had to, but thankfully the adults stepped in to put an end to the nonsense.

Pat Buchanan could’ve taken her home to his plantation in Maclean, Virginia.** His wife Shelley working the tubes while he wrote columns on how he rescued Terri from the Nazis who tried to kill her. But the fantasy ends…we simply could not have allowed anything like that to happen because we had a responsibility to see that justice be carried out. Besides, the peasants didn’t deserve the satisfaction of the chance.

It was discouraging to see many liberals “answer” direct questions on Schiavo by instead positing counter-questions like, ‘well, what about health care or the Tenth Amendment or the death penalty?’ They were afraid of appearing “insensitive” which also explains why many unprincipled Democrats skipped the unprecedented vote in Congress. Democrats need to start being real if they ever want to win again and stop behaving like they think they’re supposed to behave according to “good taste” and public polling. Schiavo’s right to expire was a significant and worthy cause on its own, regardless of the obvious Republican opportunism and hypocrisy at play. Not to say that such hypocrisy isn’t alarming: when Bush was governor of Texas, he signed a law permitting hospitals to cease life support when doctors decide hope was gone, even when the patient’s family disagreed.

That’s key. The Schindler family was obviously not thinking clearly. I suppose their emotional involvement, their religious beliefs and their political agenda prevented them from making a rational, sane decision on the matter. Ultimately, people need to learn that death is not always a bad thing, particularly when one is not even conscious of their own supposed existence.

* I employ the past tense because the case is over. The Bible thumpers posing as Terri Schiavo’s family have exhausted all legal recourse, the tube is out, and the Supreme Court has refused to hear the case. Plus, as Christopher Hitchens noted, “she’s already dead.” She’s been dead for years.

** Pulling a reverse George Wallace, Buchanan urged President Bush to order troops into the hospital to take Terri away.

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Mark Grueter is a writer living in New York. He can contacted at [email protected]