Guest Column

 Recent Drudge Headline: Schiavo Husband Lashes Out: Rep. Delay Is 'Little Slithering Snake'...

By Joe Armendariz
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say..." (Genesis, 3:1)

Mr. Schiavo - the adulterous husband of Terri Schiavo, the Florida woman stuck in a so-called: "persistent vegetative state" - is, himself, stuck in a persistent vindictive state. And I am fascinated, and, frankly, unnerved by the craftiness of her foes.

I believe the fight between those who wish to save Terri's life and those wishing her life were just...well, over already, indicates a spiritual battle of biblical proportion. The nature of this incredible struggle is discernable to many but completely invisible to most. What I observe unfolding hour, by excruciating hour, strikes me as diabolical Writ Large. 

Those who have consistently risen up to lecture the rest of us - Michael Schiavo, his obnoxious attorney, the secular humanists, et al, - about why Terri's interests are served best by death's irrevocable finality, are transparently empathetic while demonstrating counterfeit compassion. They want Terri dead, it's as simple as that. But what should we expect after all? The tragedy of Terri Schiavo is Shakespearian because her arch protagonist demonstrates qualities bordering on Luciferian.

But forget about all of that...because ours is a nation, not of men; nor spirit beings...but of laws. And the mundane world of legislation suffers no fools. It is a rational world defined by statutes, ordinances and regulation. It is what culminates after a secular body conducts its civil debate. When the last of the pregnant boasts are finished bouncing off the walls, and the eloquence and logic, fade into the history books; it's time to call for the question. 

That is what protects the integrity of our 200 plus year experiment in representative democracy. It is what determines the success or failure of the moral exercise we call self-government. The worst form of government; perhaps; except for the alternatives; as Churchill would say.

In an extraordinary midnight session, the House of Representatives deliberated for three hours and voted 203-58  to approve a bill to ask a federal court to review the Florida Supreme Court's ruling. In retrospect, Congress should have required Terri's food and water be restored, irrespective of what the federal court thought of the lower court's ruling. Alas, that is neither here, nor there, as Terri's parents watch in horror as an inhumane act of state sponsored torture unwinds before their very eyes. 

However, unlike the state and federal judges who allowed this cup to pass, at least Congress acted in an attempt to save Terri's life. 203 members of Congress voted to save her. 58 voted to let her die. 261 votes in all....albeit only a handful more than a quorum.

174 Representatives didn't rise to the occasion and cast their vote...though paid, and paid well, to be there for these sorts of tedious tasks, they were, in fact, missing in action. Their constituents'  voices were collectively stifled by their own apparent indifference. Indeed, it's difficult to imagine anything more important, for any member of Congress, than to cast a vote on what could end up being one of the most profound issues of our time. 

174 members of Congress, including ours, thought differently.

Joe Armendariz is a city councilman in Carpinteria California. Email at: jaarmendariz@cox.net