The following essay was published by commondreams.org 9/21/05

by Lisa Martinovic

It's all well and good for the President to "take responsibility" while announcing the proverbial bold plans and sweeping initiatives, all couched in uplifting platitudes and a jazz metaphor--18 days after disaster has struck.

Imagine, instead, if he had proclaimed on Day One:

"There is a valid Federal Government interest in reducing the number of events in which great pain is inflicted on sentient creatures."

Dream on, you say?

Indeed, in a world where torture is approved, climate change denied, victims blamed, and truth spun, one can be forgiven for reacting with disbelief to news that pain reduction is a legitimate government function. But legitimate it is, according to Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), who cites the above finding as justification for S.51, the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act.

If passed, S.51 would mandate that women seeking an abortion at 20 weeks pregnant and beyond be "fully informed regarding the pain experienced by their unborn child," via a statement they must sign--after it's read to them by their doctors.

One wonders if Senator Brownback has considered that the government's interest in mitigating suffering is categorical: equally relevant to everyone from America's torture victims to those enduring the calamitous aftermath of Katrina.

And so, Mr. Senator, whose pain is worth alleviating, or avoiding altogether?

If a woman were to say, of her abortion: "It was a tough decision, but I think the price was worth it," would the Senator think her callous and selfish? What if one's tough decision caused the pain, suffering, and death of half a million Iraqi infants and children, as did that of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, the champion of that rationale?

And while we can assume that no one has intentionally set out to harm hundreds of thousands of impoverished African-American Katrina victims, there is no question but that the Bush administration's dumbfounding nonchalance and ineptitude have turned a natural disaster into a human and environmental cataclysm, causing physical and emotional grief the magnitude of which is only beginning to be known.

Fundamental tenets of justice dictate that the more pain your actions cause, the higher the standard to which you ought be held.

But the Federal Government is not an equal-opportunity pain reducer. And it's this selective sensitivity that demands our attention. By way of redress I offer the Already Born Sentient Creature's Pain Awareness Act.

The Act applies to decisions made by all those in positions of great power-politicians, generals, Supreme Court Justices, CEO's, etc. Legislators, for example, will be made to research, catalog, and include in every proposed bill, evidence of pain likely to be experienced by sentient creatures subject to the legislation--be they minimum wage workers unable to afford a remotely decent life, inner city asthma victims of industrial pollution, disabled veterans, or endangered species.

Victims of similar policies, along with advocacy groups such as Amnesty International, the NAACP, Greenpeace, and the ACLU, will provide expert testimony at mandatory hearings.

Each congressperson's spiritual advisor will read to them a statement enumerating the varieties and extent of pain they've chosen to mete out via the proposed legislation. Each will be made to sign the statement--in ceremonies to take place on national television where all Americans can bear witness to what is being authorized by our representatives, in our name, with our money.

Public recognition of the odious consequences of our choices is as crucial for policy makers as it is for the citizenry. It means that we could never again take refuge in the delusion of unintended consequences-for we will have signed off on them in advance.

Would these measures inspire our representatives to defy the constraints of realpolitik and do the right things? OK, it's a stretch. But if the Act served only to start us questioning our "tough decisions," rather than continuing to sweep the fallout from them under our collective carpet of denial, that would be progress.

And, if there is no discernable shift towards sane, empathic public policy, then the I Feel Your Pain provision of the Pain Awareness Act will take effect. Sample applications include:

The Secretary of Defense and Attorney General will be made to pose naked in "uncomfortable" positions, each with a sack over his head, in a freezing room, while considering if such treatment constitutes torture or mere abuse, and whether or not the Geneva Conventions are obsolete.

The Navy strategists who deploy low-frequency sonar devices in the ocean, will be placed underwater in the Marine World dolphin tank and blasted with the excruciating sounds that assault and kill sentient creatures whose hearing is far more acute than our own.

All upper echelon military personnel will devote two weeks a year to hands-on humanitarian service in war zone orphanages, hospitals or refugee camps.

The CEO of Wal-Mart will likewise do time as a checker in one of his SuperCenters-incognito, of course.

When called to reconsider eminent domain, the Supreme Court Justices will be forced to move so that lucrative theme parks, casinos, and shopping malls can be built on the land where there homes once stood.

And the next time the President is on the verge of slashing funds for essential infrastructure, environmental restoration, jobs creation or public transportation; the next time he starts planning a war that will divide the nation, kill and maim thousands of our youth, undermine our economy and overextend the National Guard; the next timehe will be sent to the Reflection Center.

Located in sweltering swamp, the Center will accommodate the President in waist deep, corpse-strewn sewage. He will be denied food and water for several days, while standing in front of a well-stocked convenience store, a zero tolerance MP behind him, M-16 at the ready.

Somewhere in Washington, someone will be babbling "Don't worry, help is on the way."