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Cal Thomas: A Right to Die?
Townhall ^ | 8/4/09 | Cal Thomas

Posted on 08/09/2009 9:50:45 AM PDT by wagglebee

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- While America debates whether the federal government should dictate which insurance policies and medical treatments it will allow us to have, here in the UK, the conversation has "advanced" to the approval of assisted suicide.

Debbie Purdy, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has won a landmark ruling in the House of Lords that many believe will move Britain one step closer to self-destruction. Purdy must be told under what circumstances her husband could be prosecuted should he accompany her to the Dignitas euthanasia clinic in Switzerland. The Director of Public Prosecutions will now be required to spell out exactly when the government will act if someone helps a friend take their own life abroad.

The media and "right to die" advocates are calling it "compassionate assisted suicide." There are always euphemisms to help us through the troubling practices we might not, under other circumstances, wish to pursue.

One doesn't have to be a futurist or prophet to see where this is headed. Having removed the right to life from the unborn in the UK and the United States, it is only a matter of conditioning before the at first "voluntary" and ultimately involuntary snuffing out of life at its other end will be tolerated and, indeed, promoted as the state seeks new ways to cut expenses.

What is to stop them if life has only the value assigned to it by the state? As suicide, like abortion, becomes a "choice," it will be done for reasons that go beyond the reason through which it is ushered in: the supposed "intolerable pain and suffering" and "lack of hope" of recovery. Abortion on demand was conceived through the bogus rape of an unmarried woman and now it can be had for any reason, or no reason. Crimes against humanity don't begin in the ovens or on killing fields, but by small steps among civilized people.

If granny has willed you her nest egg, why not convince her and the doctor to slip her a pill and end her "suffering." Wouldn't she "want it that way" so as not to be a "burden" to her family? The executioners will not come with black masks, but in white coats and bureaucratic suits. Let us prey.

Should individuals make decisions about whether they want life-extending methods used if they suffer a catastrophic medical event? Absolutely. But that should be distinguished from a third party (besides you and your doctor) making that decision for you or "helping" you make it and then assisting in your suicide.

In a sense we all have a "right," or more precisely an obligation, to die. For the theologically inclined, see Hebrews 9:27. The debate is about the manner and method.

Should that decision be left in the hands of others whose motives may be suspect, or even to our own hands when our perspective may be clouded by drugs or pressures from family members trying to unload their "burden" and get to the estate before the money is spent?

Is this even ultimately our decision? We did not create life (not even in British laboratories where artificial sperm was recently whipped up in a Petri dish). The state is supposed to protect life, not take it except in cases of capital murder.

The One who gave us life has, or ought to have, sole discretion as to when it ends. But if increasing numbers of us think "The One" refers to a character in "The Matrix," and that we are just evolutionary accidents, then the conclusion of it all is euthanasia for the elderly, the "defective," the inconvenient and the unwanted. It's coming sooner than you think to a senior center near you, especially if Obamacare becomes law.

Debbie Purdy may think she has won a great victory for herself, but her "victory" is a significant loss for the human race.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: assistedsuicide; calthomas; europeanchristians; euthanasia; moralabsolutes; prolife
What is to stop them if life has only the value assigned to it by the state? As suicide, like abortion, becomes a "choice," it will be done for reasons that go beyond the reason through which it is ushered in: the supposed "intolerable pain and suffering" and "lack of hope" of recovery. Abortion on demand was conceived through the bogus rape of an unmarried woman and now it can be had for any reason, or no reason. Crimes against humanity don't begin in the ovens or on killing fields, but by small steps among civilized people.

And this is EXACTLY what is happening now!

1 posted on 08/09/2009 9:50:46 AM PDT by wagglebee
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To: cgk; Coleus; cpforlife.org; narses; Salvation; 8mmMauser

Pro-Life Ping


2 posted on 08/09/2009 9:51:24 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: 185JHP; 230FMJ; 50mm; 69ConvertibleFirebird; Albion Wilde; Aleighanne; Alexander Rubin; ...
Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail wagglebee or DirtyHarryY2K to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.

FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
[ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]


3 posted on 08/09/2009 9:52:03 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: wagglebee
JOE
What's the matter?

ANGELICA
Did you ever think about killing yourself?

JOE
What? Why would you do that?

ANGELICA
Why shouldn't I?

JOE
Some things take care of themselves. They're not your job. Maybe they're not even your business.


4 posted on 08/09/2009 10:07:15 AM PDT by Dr. Eckleburg ("I don't think they want my respect; I think they want my submission." - Flemming Rose)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: wagglebee
In a sense we all have a "right," or more precisely an obligation, to die.

Yes, it's a biological imperative. Except, medical science has "advanced" to the point that death can be prolonged for quite some time. (Note that "prolonging death" is vastly different from saving a life)

6 posted on 08/09/2009 10:25:05 AM PDT by MaggieCarta (We're all Detroiters now.)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg

Well, the howling wolf will howl tonight,
The king snake will crawl,
Trees that’ve stood for a thousand years
Suddenly will fall...
He could be standing next to you,
The person that you’d notice least.
I hear that sometimes
Satan comes as a man of peace.

Bob Dylan — “Man of Peace”

Doc,
I’m passing that along to the DEMS i know who are leafletting against ObamaCare.


7 posted on 08/09/2009 10:25:12 AM PDT by campaignPete R-CT
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To: wagglebee

Let’s be clear here. Many on this site oppose “right to die” on absolute religious or philosophical grounds. Others are worried that there’s a slippery slope between right to die becoming “right to kill.” But, regardless of your position on those issues, ObamaCare is a whole new ballgame. The starting point of the mandatory end-of-life consultation section might better be termed, “duty to die.”

Can you believe the AARP is in favor of this?


8 posted on 08/09/2009 10:52:52 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
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To: Pearls Before Swine
Can you believe the AARP is in favor of this?

*******************

It does seem contrary to their interests, but we should never underestimate the culture of death.

9 posted on 08/09/2009 10:59:34 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: wagglebee
I believe, strongly, that a person has a Right to choose how they exit the world as long as they do not infringe on anyone Else's Rights doing so. This is as axiomatic as the concomitant Right to your Life.

Your Right to your life cannot be taken from you, without your consent, by anyone but a Criminal. Criminals, those who initiate force/fraud/theft against another, are fair game. Period.

Any politician espousing that the government has a Right to kill you without your permission is, in my opinion, initiating force against another and their life is forfeit as the aggressor.

10 posted on 08/09/2009 11:15:53 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (III)
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To: wagglebee

POPULATION CONTROL

They have been planning this for a long time.

11 posted on 08/09/2009 12:45:01 PM PDT by HowlinglyMind-BendingAbsurdity
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To: wagglebee

” Crimes against humanity don’t begin in the ovens or on killing fields, but by small steps among civilized people.”

Cal Thomas bump


12 posted on 08/09/2009 4:40:31 PM PDT by silverleaf (If you can't be a good example, at least don't be a horrible lesson)
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To: wagglebee
HEALTHCARE 1

13 posted on 08/09/2009 4:52:02 PM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: Dr. Eckleburg
But God will have the final word!

Please Pray for the Unborn
 
 

14 posted on 08/09/2009 4:53:18 PM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: trisham; Pearls Before Swine

**Can you believe the AARP is in favor of this?**

Drop the AARP like a hot potato. They are a totally leftist organization.

Instead

Alternative to AARP — Association of Mature American Citizens http://www.amac.us/


15 posted on 08/09/2009 4:55:12 PM PDT by Salvation (With God all things are possible.)
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To: All
Pinged from Terri Dailies


16 posted on 08/10/2009 4:22:43 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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