I will begin with a public service announcement. Until Jan. 27, 2020, the Federal Government of Canada is seeking input on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). You can find the link at www.justice.gc.ca. I urge you to have your say on euthanasia because the stakes are literally life and death. Expanding the parameters of this "procedure" goes beyond any slippery slope: it is a dark chasm into state sanctioned murder justifed by the high cost of medical care.
Advocates of MAID will call this alarmism. My rejoinder is that they ought to sign "Do Not Resuscitate" forms before being allowed to form societies and lobby groups under the non-profit banner for "the right to die." At least they would have integrity on their side - not human dignity or the entire history of Western Civilization, but a single instance in their dismal existences where 2+2 doesn't equal 5. Being a generous opponent to the fetishists of death isn't easy, but it is just.
I'm thankful our overlords were foolish enough to give us a chance to weigh into MAID at all. If their cretinous actuaries or advisors had carried the day, this would be a call to hide all of your infirm, palliative, and differently-abled family or friends, as the death squads would have already swarmed their various state-funded homes and care centers. Again, it sounds like the stuff from movies - until we remember this has already happened and is happening in Europe.
The examples are too numerous for this space. I recommend Googling "euthanasia" and Belgium or the Netherlands (on an empty stomach). People with special needs and those who do not have terminal but rather chronic illnesses have been killed, with "consent" being murky at best. Then we come to the coup de grace: otherwise healthy people who suffer from depression have also been euthanized. At that point, I think "slippery slope" really means "moral black hole."
Euthanasia's strongest advocates are always those least likely to be killed later without their expressed consent, just as abortion is promoted by those who conveniently have already been born. For such cognitive dissonance and willful blindness to be widespread, there must be the necessary Gestalt: a Culture of Death which preaches that the good life is hedonistic, all suffering is irredeemable, and voluntarism, damn the science, logic, or facts, reigns supreme.
This is, of course, absurd. We all know why offences against human life from conception to natural death are tolerated or even celebrated: because of our concupiscence, not our virtue. We are weak creatures, easily falling to temptation and becoming enslaved to vice. But it does not follow that the solution to pain in our bodies, unexpected pregnancies or those who may appear a burden to our society is death. Our dignity demands more from us - we all know this.
Again, I urge you to help push back the cold clutches of our inhuman zeitgeist. No man is an island - life has meaning even when it is darkened by suffering and trial. We will never be a stronger or better nation for having killed the least of these. We must create a culture of life by reinvigorating the family and valuing those who require our help to face the challenges of this life. We can make a better world - it starts by doing the survey. Please, tell the Death Cultists: "NO!"
