What's going is too much rules-based thinking based on a society being run by lawyers.
Respectfully disagree, having been in the legal profession for 20+ years. Will be the first to admit that some lawyers shouldn't be lawyers, but I've been fortunate enough to, for the most part, to have worked for conservative-type lawyers.
The thinking of society makes the landscape ripe for lawyers, not the other way around. When the "rules-based thinking" is replaced with personal responsibility and a duty to one's own character and others, then the lawyers will have to head for deep water instead of circling in the shallow pools. Here's a good example from a long time ago. A middle aged woman comes to our office with a shunt in her forearm. She wants to sue the hospital. The woman went to the emergency room two nights ago and they placed the shunt in her arm to administer fluids. I screens this lady in the initial interview that went something like:
Dummy: So I sat deh fo two hours and da nuss come in and take off the bag. She didn't take dis ting out my arm.
Me: Did you ask her at that time if she was going to take the shunt out of your arm?
Dummy: Naw, she leff it in and den some odder nuss come in and tell me I can go. She didn't take it out either.
Me: Did you ask that nurse about the shunt that was still in your arm?
Dummy: Naw. She told me I could go so I got dressed and left.
Me: What were you wearing when you left the hospital?
Dummy: I had on {whatever) and a jacket.
Me: It was cold so you had on a jacket? And the jacket covered the shunt in you arm?
Dummy: Yea.
Me: On your way out of the emergency room, did you stop at the nurses station to ask about the shunt in your arm and whether or not you should leave the hospital with it in your arm? Did you stop by the ER admitting station to ask whether it should be removed? Did you ask the guard on your way out the door?
Dummy: Naw, I figger if they was gone remove it they would have.
So now she wants to sue because two days later the thing is still in her arm. Most people in their right mind would realize this thing needs to come out before they go home. Not someone who sees dollar signs for doing absolutely nothing they earned.
That mindset comes first. Then the lawyers come.
"What's going is too much rules-based thinking based on a society being run by lawyers."
Yep. This is what the John Edwards' of the world have brought us.