Conservative critiques of Republican maneuvering on Schiavo

In the past, conservatives have been for less, not more government. As far as the right to live, the legal precedent has been that in the absence of a living will, it is up to the next of kin, in this case, her husband, to decide what the affected person would have wanted. But as we all know by now, Tom DeLay doesn't give a damn about what her husband has to say about it.

Here are critiques by Wiliam F. Buckley and Andrew Sullivan about all of this brouhaha, though Sullivan's critique of American conservatism is a little broader.

Here's the Reagan quote I like from Sullivan's column:

“The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less
centralised authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general
description also of what libertarianism is.”

So if you think Congress knows what Terry Shiavo would have wanted better than her husband, than you are aruging for a paternalistic government, one that knows what you want and need better than you do. There was a time when liberalism, the New Deal and the Great Society were criticized for such thinking.