MAN'S INCLINATION TO INJUSTICE (letter published in Dom Post, Jan 23)

Dr Miles Williams FRACP (January 19), who says “the strength of a democratic society is the freedom it gives its members”, sounds like a just man, although probably one who has never felt threatened.

As Reinhold Niebuhr has observed, it’s man’s capacity for justice that makes democracy possible.

However, the strength of a democratic society is in fact the protection it gives its members, especially the most vulnerable. And Niebuhr reminds us that it’s man’s inclination to injustice which makes democracy necessary.

It’s exactly that inclination which means our democracy must maintain its prohibition on euthanasia.