Euthanasia --The Next GOP Wedge Issue?
"Opinion"02/24/2005
Paul Munnis
We have watched the GOP develop its wedge issues and use them to defeat their Democratic rivals with. First it was school prayer and then abortion, two things that they have done nothing about even though they have total governmental control for four years. During 2004 we were presented with “Gay Marriage Rights,” another issue that the GOP bashed Democratic candidates with and that they have done nothing about because they lack support for Constitutional change across our nation on this subject.
Now, coming head-on like a speeding locomotive is the question of mercy killing also called euthanasia. Some call it dying with dignity. Hospital workers call it “No coding,” and the Catholic Church and much of Christendom condemns it as morally wrong behavior.
For physicians and nurses it’s the number one moral problem that they face. It is the subject of state laws, precedent setting case law, and becomes a huge difficulty for the family unit when loved ones are in extreme life threatening or altering circumstances.
The physician’s oath is to sustain life and not to take it. National politicians are insulated somewhat from the issue because it’s a State issue. This all means that the GOP can have a field day with it.
That makes it a great candidate for the election-time smear machine campaign tactics so evident from the GOP over the last twelve years of American politics.
It’s also an “I-Gotcha” political issue. If you support euthanasia then you are immoral and you support killing off the old and the weak. If you don’t support it then you are a bad guy who would let people suffer needlessly. We predict that somehow the GOP will get this on the Supreme Court calendar in time for the 2006 election so they can drive candidates and voters crazy with a subject that is delicate, sensitive, that goes to the heart of family, religion and personal morality, one that involves the patient in a fundamental life or death question.
The Christian Right just salivates over an opportunity to sponsor these debates. The subject is further complicated by a lack of healthcare insurance for the terminally ill and a problem for people who are in pain and misery but who are not terminal. It’s the kind of thing AARP can wrap a coffee mug handle around and one that is bound to get passions boiling. It is made in heaven for use in the South where red-necks can throw beer cans at Democratic candidates over.
We hope that our Democratic Party does not be the Party that brings this subject into the political arena. It is however characteristic of the sort of wedge issues that the GOP love to use to bash the U.S. Constitution with. They are on a crusade to denigrate that luminary document and they seek to destroy it. Well, at least until they get into office then they walk away from the issues that they raised as if they were just a passing breeze.
For those who will run for office in 2006 the time to start boning-up on this issue is right now. Start with a hypothetical barbed question from a GOP plant in the audience or a call-in Party operative to a “talk radio” host. The question then will be framed something like: “Do you support Dr. Kivorkian’s stand on termination of life for people who are on life support systems?” The crass GOP questioner will ask: “Do You Support Doctor Death?” C-SPAN will set up a GOP and a DEMOCRAT call-in line to assure the issue becomes a Political Party issue rather than a personal moral question and then all hell with break loose in print, radio, TV, and other media while talking heads will be assured of more paychecks to come as they wank along on this subject. Howard Dean, an ex-physician will be vilified over whatever position he takes.
For those running in 2008 be ready for a huge firestorm complete with ex-Marine attack groups like “Veterans For Truth,” ready to smear candidates over their stand over these issues. We may even have “No Code Band Aids” evident at the GOP convention in 2008 from a brainless member of the Minnesota GOP Caucus. The 2006 election will just be a warm-up for what is to come in 2008.
In the meantime Americans have to deal with ethical and moral challenges facing us as people over this subject.
Those who create a “Living Will” have the last say on this matter and they save their families a lot of angst. In Minnesota, and in many other States, the medical profession is bound by terms of the living will. You might want to talk to your family attorney about this matter. The Living Will is a corollary to an Estate Will.