Lawyers and bureaucracy

Toledo Blade ^ | September 24, 2005 | Jack Kelly

[buzzyboop]

WE MIGHT have had a faster response to Katrina, and prevented the 9/11 attacks altogether, if only we'd followed the advice of Dick the Butcher.

Dick the Butcher is the character in Shakespeare's play Henry VI who says:

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers."

Dick is a repulsive character. Shakespeare's point is that lawyers are vital to the functioning of civilized society. They are the oil in the gears of commerce, the engine of democracy.

But when we have too many lawyers, and we pay them too much deference, that oil can turn into sand.

[buzzyboop]

Good ideas as usual by Mr. Kelly.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

bump for later

[Unknowing]

Replace the word "lawyer" with the word "legislator" and the whole article makes a lot more sense. If one does not like the law, or the administrative rules (which have the full effect of laws) then one petitions one's legislators.

Saying that society's problems are the result of lawyers avoiding legal liability for their clients misses the point.

[freebilly]

firemen were prevented from rescuing Katrina victims until they had received a lecture on sexual harassment policy

I'm trying to recall.... What year did we become a society of morons...?

[freebilly]

I'm not sure that's the point of the article. The point seems to be that bureacracies and governmental entities work like bureaucracies and governmental entities. Throw into the mix that many government functionaries (like Nagin) fear being sued for any action they take so when a crisis hits the powers that be spend time worrying about the legal ramifications of acting rather than taking swift and decisive action to rescue people and save lives....

[Oztrich Boy]

firemen were prevented from rescuing Katrina victims handing out flyers promoting FEMA and giving the telephone number until they had received a lecture on sexual harassment policy

[headsonpikes]

...young Donald Rumsfeld [argued] that lawyers should be barred from holding public office.

That's something we could try. Since lawyers make up over half of most legislatures, laws are inevitably crafted to further lawyer's interests, both economic and political - to think otherwise is to be child-like, frankly.

And it need hardly be said that those lawyerly interests do not necessarily correspond to the interests of the people.

[freebilly]

I don't think things will change much until after my generation passes away. My generation, overall, was the most self-absorbed, self-important, nearsighted, worthless generation to set foot on this planet. It was my generation's selfish cowardice that led to the slaughter of millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians.

It is my generation's selfish arrogance that has led to the slaughter of millions of unborn children.

And it is my generation's selfish avarice that has made big tobacco, big oil, the fast food industry, the liquor industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and every other industry with deep pockets, the target of thugs with law degrees.

Until my generation passes away, and until a new crowd of leaders
emerge who don't give a flying rip about PCism and don't care that they're labeled racists, homophobes, Nazis, and every other name by the pot-bellied, balding, ponytailed girly-men and their gap toothed, hairy legged, droopy breasted sow-women....

The first thing we do, if we want things to change, is to raise our children to be leaders. The 2nd thing we do is kill all the lawyers....