The whole Schindler-Schiavo affair is problematic. He wants to move on, but why does that necessarily mean she has to die? He wants what's best for her, but why doesn't that mean another decade in the loving arms of her parents? He allegedly is money-hungry, maybe even harboring a life insurance policy on her; why wouldn't he take the San Diego businessman's $1 million?
This late in the game, there are no more options, really. The Governor could send in agents; defying the courts thus would likely result in his impeachment. The Presidency set a useful precedent 10 years ago -- the full weight of the Justice Department was brought to bear to seize one child; it is not a far stretch to do the same to save this woman.
One interesting note: the extremes of either end of the political spectrum. The extreme right at best wants to sneak an ice chip across her lips or maybe even do something as terrible as administering Communion. At worst, the Right wants to kill or imprison anyone who wants to kill Ms. Schiavo or stands in the way -- to then take the woman into their arms and keep her alive indefinitely. The extreme left at best finds judicial decisions holier than scripture and wishes to defer to the courts and let this woman die, perhaps even inserting a little personalized morality that "No one would ever want to live like that." At worst, they will tinkle champagne glasses at her death, cheering and high-fiving each other for their tremendous victory over the Evil Conservatives. The only extreme with the possibility of promoting life is the Right. But if you are too radical, the Right means the death of one or more people who seek to uphold the law.
Terri did not deserve to die, it's true. The bigger problem is the moment after she passes on, when we will have nothing to distract us from the fact that we are all hostage to one bad judicial decision - after all, Terri was killed pursuant to one man's appeal to one judge, upheld by legal reviews by 18 other judges. One decision on the facts unmoved by 18 reviews of the law. We have thousands of judges across the country; many are a threat to your life under the wrong circumstances. The moral: Judges Matter.
Another interesting realization is that the centuries of combat between the Executive and the Legislative branches of our government have provided the smokescreen necessary for the Judiciary to fill in every time there was a power loss by one branch or the other. We must remember the judges are powerful men with powerful ambitions; all of which does not go away because they don a black robe. They may purport to be impartial analyzers of the law, but in the end they are looking out for themselves and their judicial descendants. That branch must be brought down once again to coequal status - this case has shown that no action by a united President and Congress can move a single judge.
