Thursday, March 31, 2005
Krytocracy and the Death of Terri Schiavo
As I was formulating my ideas for my post this morning, the news of Terri Schiavo's death was announced. Please pray for the repose of her soul and for her family members.
However, the tragic end to her life story cannot overshadow the push for krytocracy by Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals who wrote yesterday in a ruling on the last appeal for Mrs. Schiavo, "Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper. While the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty... (The White House and Congress) have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution." The last sentence indicates that Judge Birch has absolutely no grasp on what the Constitution currently states, nor does he have the slightest clue as to what the Founding Fathers intent was as it relates to the promotion of liberty and the prevention of tyranny.
As I posted earlier, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution gives Congress the right to act as it did. To chastise Congress for acting in a way protected by the Constitution is either the height of ignorance or arrogance on the part of Judge Birch. Given his professional stature, my guess is that he simply arrogant.
As for the Founding Fathers vision, the Federalist Papers eloquently argue the need to protect personal liberty and prevent control by faction. The ultimate personal liberty is life. The ultimate faction now appears to be an out of control judicial system epitomized by Judge Birch in this particular case. Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist Paper Number 78, argues for the need of an independent judiciary. I assume it is an argument that Judge Birch warmly embraces.
However, Judge Birch and his ilk should not overlook the following portion of that same tract: "It can be of no weight to say that the courts, on the pretense of repugnancy, may substitute their own pleasure to the constitutional intentions of the legislature... The courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGEMENT, the consequence would equally be the substitution of their pleasure to that of the legislative body." Hamilton goes on to argue that an independent judiciary would prevent this from happening. Many Anti-federalists accepted his argument. Unfortunately, this case is an example where the Hamiltonian judiciary system has failed. In the Schiavo case, the new faction of the judiciary, acting in a manner more suited to a krytocracy than to a democratic republic, beat the ultimate concept of liberty - life. The result is Terri's dead.
May her soul and all the souls of the faithfully departed Rest in Peace.
However, the tragic end to her life story cannot overshadow the push for krytocracy by Judge Stanley F. Birch, Jr. of the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit Court of Appeals who wrote yesterday in a ruling on the last appeal for Mrs. Schiavo, "Any further action by our court or the district court would be improper. While the members of Congress have acted in a way that is both fervent and sincere, the time has come for dispassionate discharge of duty... (The White House and Congress) have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people - our Constitution." The last sentence indicates that Judge Birch has absolutely no grasp on what the Constitution currently states, nor does he have the slightest clue as to what the Founding Fathers intent was as it relates to the promotion of liberty and the prevention of tyranny.
As I posted earlier, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution gives Congress the right to act as it did. To chastise Congress for acting in a way protected by the Constitution is either the height of ignorance or arrogance on the part of Judge Birch. Given his professional stature, my guess is that he simply arrogant.
As for the Founding Fathers vision, the Federalist Papers eloquently argue the need to protect personal liberty and prevent control by faction. The ultimate personal liberty is life. The ultimate faction now appears to be an out of control judicial system epitomized by Judge Birch in this particular case. Alexander Hamilton, in Federalist Paper Number 78, argues for the need of an independent judiciary. I assume it is an argument that Judge Birch warmly embraces.
However, Judge Birch and his ilk should not overlook the following portion of that same tract: "It can be of no weight to say that the courts, on the pretense of repugnancy, may substitute their own pleasure to the constitutional intentions of the legislature... The courts must declare the sense of the law; and if they should be disposed to exercise WILL instead of JUDGEMENT, the consequence would equally be the substitution of their pleasure to that of the legislative body." Hamilton goes on to argue that an independent judiciary would prevent this from happening. Many Anti-federalists accepted his argument. Unfortunately, this case is an example where the Hamiltonian judiciary system has failed. In the Schiavo case, the new faction of the judiciary, acting in a manner more suited to a krytocracy than to a democratic republic, beat the ultimate concept of liberty - life. The result is Terri's dead.
May her soul and all the souls of the faithfully departed Rest in Peace.
