A Conundrum
NEW YORK NIGHTS
New York State’s “Medical Aid in Dying Act” is poised to take effect early this year, with Gov. Hochul’s promise to sign it into law. This would make New York the 13th state to offer this compassionate option to people who are suffering and see no end to it.
Predictably, there is loud, pious outrage from religious groups, who howl righteously that only God has the right to take life away. These are of course, the same groups who scream themselves hoarse over their demands to take reproductive rights away from women, demands that have largely been successful. Again, God’s will is their fallback.
The indefatigable zeal with which these folks fight for life at the start and at the end causes us to ask an obvious question. Why are they so silent about the quality of people’s lives in between birth and death? Evangelicals and most religious organizations support Republicans and their MAGA messiah’s efforts to take rights and benefits away from struggling, non-billionaire Americans. The dissonance seems staggering to us.
Nevertheless, rather than asking these religious folks for phony, preachy explanations we urge Americans to vote them out of power. We urge people to vote Democrat at their earliest opportunities.
| Year | Letters | Published | Avg. | Avg. Wait Time (Days) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 3.0 |
| 2011 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 5.0 |
| 2012 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 5.5 |
| 2013 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 2.0 |
| 2016 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 3.0 |
| 2017 | 8 | 7 | .875 | 5.9 |
| 2018 | 8 | 7 | .875 | 5.1 |
| 2019 | 12 | 11 | .917 | 5.5 |
| 2020 | 16 | 10 | .625 | 7.1 |
| 2021 | 13 | 10 | .769 | 4.3 |
| 2022 | 13 | 11 | .846 | 2.0 |
| 2023 | 13 | 12 | .923 | 2.5 |
| 2024 | 26 | 13 | .500 | 3.4 |
| 2025 | 48 | 31 | .646 | 3.5 |
| 2026 | 56 | 33 | .589 | 4.2 |
| Career | 219 | 151 | .689 | 4.1 |
3 more needed for induction.
