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Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon has voted against a federal ban on physician assisted suicide even though he opposes physician assisted suicide. Twice, as a state lawmaker, he voted against Oregon's statute permitting physician assisted suicide. How can he vote in the U.S. Senate against a measure that, were it introduced in the Oregon legislature, he would fote for?
Welcome to federalism.
Federalism is the term for the relations between the states and the federal government in our federal system of dual sovereigns, meaning the issues rising out of them.
Oregon is the only state in the union to have a law permitting physician assisted suicide. Some in Congress want to eliminate the practice and its spread.
Why does Sen. Wyden oppose the federal measure when he would favor it if introduced in Oregon?
Because Oregon has the right, meaning the power, to regulate public health, welfare, safety and morals, aka the police power.
The police power was the big power NOT granted to the federal government when the Framers drafted the Constitution in 1787. They held this one back by reserving it to the states and the people, in Amendment 10, ratified with the Bill of Rights, 1791.
Wyden's argument, essentially, is that if Washington can regulate Oregon, 3,000 miles away, why even bother to have a state? Why vote for state measures if those bureaucrats and politicians in Washington can override them?
Here's the The Oregonian article, by reporter Jeff Kosseff.
Incidentally, the NY Times ran an article recently about a woman prize fighter who became severely disabled as the result of head injuries suffered in the ring. Her family felt that the author of the story which was eventually made into the movie, "Million Dollar Baby," must've heard of the real life incident and adapted it for his purposes, based on a number of similarities, to which they have no complaint.
But, the family says, Clint Eastwood, who won Best Director and Best Picture Oscars for M$B, took the easy way out. In real life, the family rallied to their daughter and sister, supporting her will to live. In the movie, the will of Hilary Swank's character was otherwise. The first 2/3 of the movie is uphill all the way, then you get pushed over the cliff, unfortunately. That's what makes it a great movie. Three handkerchiefs.