In the realm of college football, there are countless coaching cliches. One we hear regularly is "a level playing field." Coaches are always looking for something that will level the playing field. They're talking about factors such as weather that will influence the game, allowing an inferior team to be competitive with a superior team. Rainfall, for example, is said to be a leveler of the playing field, since it can inhibit a passing scheme or result in turnovers.
In the America I grew up loving, our judicial system leveled the playing field. The courts protected the interests of society's underdogs in civil matters by providing the opportunity to contest the actions of the powerful in a setting where both parties had equal standing. Sometimes, when the powerful had done something wrong, they had to pay a hefty penalty.
In earlier posts, I've mentioned my guiding political principles. One is there should be separation of church and state. Another is the judicial system should be a leveler of life's playing field.
Just as heavy rainfall won't guarantee a football victory for an underdog, the judicial system can't, and shouldn't, guarantee that the plaintiff will win every civil lawsuit. But it should ensure the plaintiff will be competitive, and the potential for punitive damages should substantially discourage organizational misconduct.
For all their lip motion about individual responsibility and accountability, conservatives don't really believe in those things. They're constantly searching for ways to deregulate the regulated and immunize their deep-pocket donors from liability.
Conservatives aren't much good at actually running things, but one thing they're really good at is creation of myths. They created the liberal media bias myth to discredit investigation and factual analysis of what they're up to, and they created the myth of frivolous lawsuits to keep the playing field tilted in favor of their contributors.
Sure, there are some liberals in the media. Every now and then, a Krugman or Dionne will pop up on the editorial page. And occasionally, there'll be a frivolous lawsuit. The mythology is that media liberals and frivolous lawsuits are somehow pervasive.
We've all heard about the dimwit who spills scalding coffee in his lap, then sues the fast-food joint and is awarded a million dollars in damages. Probably your textbook example of a frivolous lawsuit.
What makes the event newsworthy is that it's rare. If these things happened all the time, they would lose their newsworthiness.
Companies are in business to earn profits. Nothing wrong with that. When companies start increasing profits by cutting corners is when problems begin. The top priority for conservatives is to keep profits high, and liability for cutting corners low. Thus, the myth of frivolous lawsuits.
The myth is based on the idea that our country can't function properly because court dockets are tied up with all those frivolous lawsuits.
Envy is a common weakness in Americans. The news story about the guy who got scalded by hot coffee pisses us off. We're pissed off because we didn't think of it first. That guy has a million dollars and we don't. We're pissed.
All in all, we Americans have it good. Compared to many people in the world, we have an abundance of leisure time, and we're always looking for ways to fill it. A lot of people fill their excess leisure time watching television. Being gullible, they believe what they see on TV is real, but what they're confusing with reality is just a product marketed to sell advertising.
Conservatives understand the American tendencies toward envy and gullibility. The frivolous lawsuit myth is especially designed to exploit those tendencies. The idea is to get the sheep to vote in favor of stripping away their own legal protections and advantages. And it works, over and over again. Conservatives pass one "tort reform" bill after another, and Americans think it's a good thing. It's amazing how easily Americans can be persuaded to surrender rights they claim to cherish.
The old saying is that everybody hates good trial lawyers until they need one. Words of truth on a sunny Saturday.
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