Rare Jewel Insight: April 19, 2005
Table of Contents:
1. COMMENTARY
- “Statistics Don’t Lie; Statisticians Do”
2. The DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE Gathers Steam!
1. COMMENTARY
- “Statistics Don’t Lie; Statisticians Do”
(by Rick Marschall, Managing Editor, Rare Jewel Magazine)
Average Americans, watching average TV news programs and reading average newspapers during the Terry Schiavo ordeal, might be permitted the average impression that 75-80 per cent of the public was in favor of pulling Terri’s feeding tube. Also, that a similar majority thought that the Schindlers had no right to request the assumption of providing for their daughter if the husband Michael opted for death. Also, that an approximate percentage of folks resented efforts by elected representatives to intervene by legal means, even improvised legal moves.
We don’t need specific poll results, partly because they are so accessible and so ubiquitous: partisans on both sides of the Terri issue can agree on one thing: the media reported that the overwhelming portion of the public was on the side of Michael Schiavo, Judge George W Greer, and lawyer George J Felos; and that only a minority of people agreed with Mr and Mrs Schindler; silent advocates ranging from candle-holders outside the hospice to the president of the United States; and… perhaps each other.
That is to say, there are a lot of people, despite the right-to-die crowd and despite survey statistics, who couldn’t buy the polls showing a majority for the technicalities of death. America has changed… but to THAT extent?
Well, those trumpet sounds we hear are that of an overdue cavalry charge -- an honest poll. All these truths became self-evident when Rev. Pat Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, released a poll commissioned of the respected Zogby International, in which a broad range of questions were asked in the wake of Terry Schiavo’s death. The questions were many and they were transparently impartial. They were fair, in contrast to the questions framed by mainstream-media pollsters.
They even appear to rise above the shouting attendant upon the Schiavo tragedy, and ask respondents about larger questions of treatment of disabled people in situations that some would force into life-and-death realms.
For instance, Zogby asked, "If a disabled person is not terminally ill, not in a coma, and not being kept alive on life support, and they have no written directive, should or should they not be denied food and water?"
A landslide-force 79 per cent maintained the patient should not be denied food and water. A microscopic nine per cent said that food and water should be denied. Whether about Terri Schiavo specifically, or the disabled in general, this is the centerpiece question confronting us all as a Culture of Death spreads over our society.
In another fairly phrased proposition about a hypothetical incapacitated person who had not expressed a preference for medical treatment -- as was the recognized case in Terri's situation -- 43 per cent believed that "the law presumes that the person wants to live, even if the person is receiving food and water through a tube." Only 30 per cent thought otherwise.
The poll also lent support to members of Congress to who passed legislation seeking to prevent Terri's starvation death and help her parents take their lawsuit to federal courts. The firestorm of anger that supposedly awaits conservative politicians (read most newspapers, news magazines, and network news for this opinion) will not ignite, according to poll questions… when they are asked fairly. "When there is conflicting evidence on whether or not a patient would want to be on a feeding tube, should elected officials order that a feeding tube be removed or should they order that it remain in place?" Straightforward answers to this straightforward question revealed that 18 per cent said the feeding tube should be removed; 42 per cent said it should remain in place.
The Zogby poll indicated that 49 per cent of Americans believe there should be exceptions to the right of a spouse to act as a guardian for an incapacitated spouse, versus 39 per cent who disagreed. More specifically, when directly queried about Terri's situation including the information that the estranged husband Michael "has had a girlfriend for 10 years and has two children with her," 56 per cent believed guardianship should have been turned over to the Schindler family. Thirty-seven per cent disagreed.
Clearly, we can take the perception of the public’s attitudes as reported by the major news media, and just about reverse their numbers.
If readers might respond, “Well, any polls can say what those who commission the surveys want to hear,” we can say, “NOW you’re getting it!” The major networks, major newspapers, major news magazines, and major liberal politicians have been lockstep on issues of life, traditional values, and our nation’s Christian heritage. Again, partisans on each side know this; the only advocates who won’t admit it are those whose interests favor a smokescreen to hide the fact.
If proof is needed, compare the fair questions posed by Zogby on behalf of the Christian Defense Coalition, and the language posed by ABC News in a poll conducted shortly before Terri Schiavo finally died of starvation and dehydration:
"Schiavo suffered brain damage and has been on life support for 15 years. Doctors say she has no consciousness and her condition is irreversible. Her husband and her parents disagree about whether she would have wanted to be kept alive.”
To such a set-up, certain responses are almost inevitable.
In the year 2005 in America we should not need a poll to prove another poll biased. Christian Patriots should assume that (in pollster’s jargon) an overwhelming percentage of the major media lie to us; that trends indicate that a democracy is ill-served when a “free” press misleads citizens. The better questions SHOULD revolve around a family’s inability to assume care of their daughter -- loving her unconditionally, no matter what an adulterous husband contended -- and why a political/legal system could not protect the rights of the most vulnerable in its midst.
“An unfriendly man pursues selfish ends; he defies all sound judgment. A fool finds no pleasure in understanding, but delights in airing his own opinions.” (Proverbs 18:1-2 NIV)
(The results of the full poll conducted by Zogby for the Christian Defense Coalition can be found at
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=982)
2. The DECLARATION OF DEPENDENCE GATHERS STEAM!
Unveiled in the current issue of Rare Jewel Magazine (March/April 2005), the Declaration of Dependence offers citizens and leaders a set of principles to define themselves as Christian Patriots… and to challenge candidates, pastors, and others in authority to take stands in accordance with Biblical principles and our nation’s Christian heritage.
Three of the points of the Declaration of Dependence are these:
“I declare that beyond the rights and responsibilities of independence that are mine as an American, I am very much Dependent on God--– for knowledge, for wisdom, for
guidance...”
“I believe that Christian principles have been responsible for the spiritual, moral, social, and material blessings that birthed and sustained this nation. I also believe that the continued respect for these traditions is essential for our people’s well-being. I further believe that abandonment of Christian principles will guarantee decay, discontent, and disaster for America...”
“I agree that all schoolchildren should be allowed public prayer, and that all citizens should enjoy this right in all public places. I agree that teaching of creation by the Creator God should not be banned from classrooms. I agree that public commemoration of our Christian heritage and traditions should be unfettered.”
Join the many who are making public their endorsement of this revolutionary document. Order the latest copy of Rare Jewel Magazine (http://www.RareJewelMag.com/subscribe) or go to the document itself at
http://www.DeclarationOfDependence.org.
