This evening we are entering the 4th day of the court ordered torturing of Terri Schiavo to death. She may only have a few days left to live, and everyone should pray for her and our country. Terri will be in a better place if she dies, but our country will no longer be able to claim:

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Our founding fathers believed "their Creator" gave us "unalienable Rights" and "that among these are Life". Our God given Right to Life is the most fundamental of all our human rights.

They further said:

"That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed."

The whole purpose of Government is securing these Rights, the first of which is Life. The government of the State of Florida and to a lesser degree the United States have failed in this most fundamental duty.

But so what one might ask. The founding fathers had an answer:

"That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

This is not some radical call for "revolution now" or such nonsense. After all we must consider:

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shown, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed."

However when our government abuses the Rights of the innocent, it does so at great peril. Eventually "If This Goes On -" our government will lose all the respect of the citizens. Then we will find:

"But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security."

I pray our country never reaches that point. The current path is not hopeful, however.

So let us pray for Terri and our country. Let us also work to right the wrongs starting by calling those in Florida who could help but will not. Be respectful but strongly urge them to change their minds.