No Silver Lining

Washington state voters take a step in the wrong direction:

Voters approved Initiative 1000 on Tuesday, making Washington the second state to give terminally ill people the option of medically assisted suicide.

The ballot measure, patterned after Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law, allows a terminally ill person to be prescribed lethal medication, which would be self-administered.

With about 43 percent of the expected vote counted Tuesday in unofficial returns, I-1000 was being approved by a margin of about 58 percent to about 42 percent.

Supporters, led publicly by Democratic former Gov. Booth Gardner, said the initiative would provide a compassionate way for terminally ill people to die.

Gardner has Parkinson's disease, an incurable disorder that causes tremors and stiff or frozen limbs. Gardner, who would not be eligible under I-1000 because Parkinson's is not considered fatal, said he pushed the measure in his "last campaign" because he understood why other ill people would want the option.

Well, just wait Mr Gardner. Once human life has been devalued, to anything other than sacred, drift will set in. Parkinson's disease will eventually be covered, then depression, and before long even those who are having an especially frustrating Monday will be eligible for state assisted mortal coil shuffling.

It's a funny world, because the supporters of this measure think they are being compassionate. They think they are the kind and caring ones. That's what makes argument futile.