Krusin' the Capitol
By Nebraska State Senator Lowen Kruse
2005
Week 12
March 25, 2005
Hi
From a Denver reader, a new word, which is good fun and illustrates well the
simplistic tax attitudes I grumble about. "De-Brucing." Doug Bruce pushed
through a constitutional amendment in Colorado that requires a vote of the
people in any body that takes actions which will raise taxes. Has complicated
formulas and caps ... and a "wonderful" plan that requires each taxpayer to be
paid back a (small) check if by some error of projected revenues too much tax
money comes in. That, as you might guess in a rigid system, must be done even if
the taxing body is unable to pay its bills. It is happening to towns,
cemetery boards, schools, water districts, etc.
The people can vote to suspend this, but only in general elections every two
years. So meanwhile the governmental body cannot meet the needs and a general
election may well have pages and pages of "de-brucing" amendments on it. She
and I have cut out a lot of details in the telling, but as she notes, this is
surely "smaller government" run amok.
From the legislature, my favorite phrase of the week, said in a disparaging
way by Senator Chambers about I do not know what: "Soup from the shadow of a
malnourished pigeon."
A FEW ISSUES THAT ARE "UP FOR GRABS":
Drug use. The future is open on this one and we could change it. By "we" I
mean all of us, not just drug users. So far, we as a society are not willing
to say "No" to drugs.
Death and injury by alcohol-impaired drivers. Could go up or down, depending
on us. The "us" is not limited to those who drink and drive. Those persons
are reading the public mentality that this is a free country. The whole tribe
of us give permission for this reckless behavior by our attitudes and
comments -- or lack of them. We are victims of a public consensus which would be
unthinkable in Sweden, where they are so openly offended by a person who drives
after even two drinks that it is not done. They have no such deaths or
injuries. In Nebraska alone, we kill 100 persons a year, most of them young.
Culture of violence. Again, public opinion will chart this one and it is not
clear that we have made up our mind to reduce violence. One of the maddening
qualities of quite a few good citizens is they will not give their opinion on
"obvious" matters. It is unsophisticated or something. So our peers are not
reminded about how we think. And conviction is not clear.
Health care for all. We are two-thirds of the way there, but I cannot call
it yet. We are to the point we want everyone who goes to a hospital to be
treated, which is very expensive to our counties, but we are not the same on
preventive health care, which is much less expensive.
Parents involved in school. We are becoming more upset about the issue, as
we are beginning to see that the lack of parental involvement reduces teacher
authority and is very expensive in taxes. It takes more teachers. But we do
not have our heads around it and I am not sure we will get it done.
Finally, some thoughts about the Schaivo case. I am embarrassed by
legislators who did not know enough to be embarrassed by their blatantly political
posturing. For well over seven years, courts have consistently declared a form of
brain death.
Life is no longer measured by breathing. I consider her dead. A congressman
yammers on about her missing two meals and starving. Hello. She has missed
all her meals for fifteen years. Tubes are not natural. In medical language,
they are "extra-ordinary means" and do not have to be used in any case.
The agony of family and friends is quite another matter and we must recognize
the great pain of the situation, especially with conflicting personal
feelings and values. Tubes are so easy to put in and so hard to take out. I have
stood with the family around the bed touching the beautiful young body of their
loved one, warm and breathing. But dead. In hospitals, we usually keep the
body going so as to give the best chance to those who would receive the organs.
It tears you up to see what we once thought of as "alive" and to know that
body, without mental activity, is dead. Your eye and memory fight with the ear
and words of the physician and I cannot judge anyone whose eye/memory wins
the emotional debate. I have stood with those families many times and am
frankly amazed at their courage when they take each other's hands, including the
hands of their beloved, unsuccessfully fight back their tears, and tell me and
the nurse, "It is time. Can we have a prayer?"
With those experiences in mind, I grind my teeth to think of non-family
adults, who are not even there, trying to keep the limp body on public display for
political gain. The mix of public thought is weird and they should expect a backlash.
Texas has a law that the tubes can be withdrawn in a vegetative case
if no one is paying the bill. I wonder who signed that? A treasurer
probably wrote it.
Bottom line, for every adult: sign a living will, available at every
hospital, and do talk about your decision with loved ones. They are the ones who
will be standing around your bed.
And please, keep your brain active.
Lowen
Back to Top
Krusin the Capitol Index
Home Page
|
