by James Glaser
March 24, 2005

Only the Republican Senators were given a copy of a memo which said the debate over Terri Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core supporters. The Washington Post got a copy and reports, "The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection next year and is potentially vulnerable in a state President Bush won last year."

"This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo. "This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats."

Nothing about the merits of the case, nothing about the sanctity of life, and nothing about Terri Schiavo, but everything about being able to beat a political opponent. The Republican leadership has shown what they really care about in America today.

I had always thought that when a man and a woman married, they became each other's next of kin. Now we have the Republican Party telling us that not only do parents retain that relationship, but Congress can also step in and decide life issues for either person in a marriage.

Really now, I have no idea of how any Republican who voted to put Terri Schiavo's parents wishes into law, can ever get up and start talking about the "Sanctity of Marriage."

When our government in Washington jumps into a matter purely covered under State law and does that for purely political gain we all lose a little more of our freedom. There is a reason that our government was set up with three branches, the Executive, the Congressional, and the Judicial. When two of these try and subvert the other, our democracy is being attacked and that is what our Republican Party tried to do in this case, not to save the life of Terri Schiavo and not to reaffirm how important the institution of marriage is, but to gain more votes in the next election.