Party Games 12/54 The Voluntary Euthanasia Party

To sleep, perchance to dream, or maybe not given the rather unlikely existence of an afterlife. The Voluntary Euthanasia Party is all about people having the right to end their life when all that looms before them is pain. Given that one of the founders is Dr Philip Nitschke, who is also a senate candidate in the ACT (good luck with that (they also have a second senate candidate for the ACT which is either a sign of too much cash or too much optimism)), their position on the matter should be pretty clear.

Thinking about this party has raised an inconsistency in my thinking. I'm generally against suicide on the basis that no matter how bleak and miserable life may be, being alive is better than being dead. However, I've also been generally supportive of the right to choose when you leave this world. Why am I ok with it as an escape from pain and old age, but not from depression and misery. Maybe it is a false contrast of suicide being an escape or cop out, while euthanasia is an acknowledgement that life must end and that it may be better to do so on ones own terms than on the cruel ones nature offers. Both descriptions could be used for each other. Maybe I'm just more willing to accept someone old wanting to end it all while thinking someone younger has more potential. If you only have one or two more years it seems less of a waste than if you have 30-50 more years of life you're throwing away. I think I will need to do some more thinking on the topic before reaching a conclusion.

That said, if you support euthanasia, there are other parties that do so which also have policies on other matters as well. If you care about more than just this issue you may want to look into them and pick one as the Voluntary Euthanasia Party haven't told us what they think of other issues or committed to not voting on other matters, so unless you feel like taking a roll of the dice on their position on the NBN, Carbon Tax, parental leave or other issue of choice, you can probably find another party that supports both that may be a better first choice. If you really want to make a statement about your support of the issue and not so much about other stuff, then they may be your guys.

Website: http://vep.org.au/