Oh, on that I agree with Kathryn and Derb entirely. I think the longterm challenges and problems represented by the Schiavo case are enormous and hardly unique to her.

Longtime readers know this is an issue I’m really interested in, if not particularly expert on. I think the big changes in politics are often — but not always — driven far more by technology than by ideas. As Chesterton said, “progress is the mother of problems” — or something like that. This is a point I’ve tried to address many times. I think first here and most recently here.