The American Spectator

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Swift Votes

3.25.05 @ 12:01AM

NO APOLOGY NEEDED
Re: George Neumayr's A Modest Proposal:

This column is delightfully caustic, sarcastic, downright nasty...and "up to the minute" topical.

By the way, wasn't there an old Charlton Heston movie, Soylent Green, where, in the name of the greater good, they processed "useless" old folks into little green bars of soap? The general idea was to reduce the clutter, with a resultant benefit to society.
-- Joseph W. Holmes
Cedar Park, Texas

When people carry out the death of the innocent, it reminds me of Genesis 6:6 -- "And the Lord was sorry that he ever made mankind in the first place, and it grieved him at his heart."
-- David Shoup
Dublin, Georgia

Your swift response is timely and well spoken.
-- Robert Casselberry

An excellent twist on Marc Antony. Well done, the Bard would be proud.
-- Mary L. Gilbert
Bristow, Virginia

Regarding "A Modest Proposal," I have another suggestion...that in each state with a death penalty, Republican legislators introduce "Terri's Law," which would make Starvation/ Dehydration the method of execution for all with death sentences. After all it is such a "peaceful and humane" way to die. Can't wait to see the legal yoga positions assumed by the courts over that one.
-- Boris Berejan MD

Thank you for framing the absurd this way, Mr. Neumayr.

But, respectfully, I think a variation on this scheme was tried before in the former Third Reich. Its architects and implementers were people named Hitler, Himmler, Heydrich, Eichmann, Mengele, Hoess, and Stangle. They were assisted by thousands of robotic minions and the silence of millions of Germans. Their work took place at Dachau, Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Ravensbruck, Treblinka, Theresienstadt, Buchenwald, and elsewhere. I seem to recall the world recoiled in horror and shock at the results.

Times are different now, though. Euthanasia is becoming fashionable in Europe, especially The Netherlands. Situational ethics and moral relativism grow in popularity globally, but particularly in America. So who knows?
-- C. Kenna Amos Jr.
Princeton, West Virginia

I hope the majority of your readers will recognize Jonathon Swift's call to reason.
-- Howard Hughes

As a disabled veteran (70% rating from the VA) I read your article with great interest. Even though my present condition came about from a misguided desire to defend my country, I certainly would never want to be a "burden" on society, my family, or the healthcare system. Euthanizing the disabled or terminally ill would certainly save tons of money, but you fail to see the "big picture." Why not kill everyone who is even slightly ill, injured, or just a little "under the weather"? Even trivial injuries such as paper cuts cost businesses untold lost man-hours of production, so why not simply kill office workers who can't handle typing paper in a safe manner?

My proposal would allow the total elimination of the so-called "healthcare system," eliminate the need to manufacture useless crap like band-aids, aspirin, and ace bandages, and free up all those doctors, nurses, malpractice attorneys, and medical technicians to re-train for more useful careers as concrete finishers, drywall hangers, farm workers, and cable TV installers.

I've been a registered Republican all of my adult life, but your article has really opened my eyes (sadly, I do require reading glasses!) and I'm going to re-register as a Democrat as soon as I can find my cane and hobble over to the post office.

As one who is familiar with more forms of death than the average person, I've never seen a "dignified" death. But, what the heck, we'll all be dead someday and, in the meantime, the ill, the sick, and the injured owe it to the healthy to just disappear.
-- Tillman L. Jeffrey
Manteca, California

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