Thoughts on Schiavo and government

Well, after some very gentle prodding from a friend, I have finally decided to write on the whole Schiavo fiasco.

Oh, how our media has been consumed with this person. In typical fashion, unnecessarily focusing on one specific case, while completely ignoring the many other similar cases that currently exist and have existed. They do this only because they can get the "softer side" of the story. Problem is, in bringing in such emotion, they ignore the facts of the case.

The state of Florida and the federal administrative and legislative branches of government have been pandering to the press, and also ignoring the facts in the case. And the American people have been eating it up. The love it. It is a 4 ring circus and they love it. Because they are stupid. A great quote from the movie Men in Black "A person can be smart, people are stupid." sums it up for me.

The purpose of state government is to provide for local needs, like a state militia, state police, and state roads. Federal government is to provide defense, settle disputes between states, and collect tariffs (note, taxes were added after the original framers of our government were dead and could no longer object.)

Anything that adds to the role of government takes away from the role of the individual. When we see people homeless and hungry, instead of taking personal responsibility to fix the problem, we say, "shouldn't the government of the greatest nation in the world be able to make sure that no one ever went hungry." We do the same with health care, medication, schooling, jobs, you name it. It is a complete abdication of our responsibility. We should be ashamed.

The more we do that, the more we lose our role as image bearers of God. A song on the radio the other day said (paraphrasing), If we are the body, why aren't His hands reaching, why aren't His lips teaching. In other words, if we are the body, why aren't we doing His work? Answer, because we think the government should do it for us. Horse hockey.

The government has no business passing laws that apply to an individual. They also have no business getting into the incredibly painful situation that the Schiavos/Schindlers are living and have been living for the last decade.

It also troubles me to the core that we have absolutely no problem with abortions of viable, healthy babies, and yet we find the death of a virtually brain-dead woman intolerable.

Why. Because we are monumentally selfish and stupid. The question is who do we choose to identify with. In the case of the pregnacy, we identify not with the baby, but with the (what must be) poor mother who finds herself in such a (what must be) difficult situation.

I will talk more about abortion later. It is a subject about which I am passionate.

Until then.

Aloha.