America's crisis of accountability

BIZPACReview.com ^ | 12/2/2011 | Michael Dorstewitz

[SmileRight]

Our nation is suffering a crisis of accountability.

My first job after law school was working for a talented criminal lawyer named Andy. He loved the rough and tumble of trials, and handled appeals with equal aplomb. He once told me that, in his experience, criminals had changed for the worse. When he interviewed appellate clients early in his career, their story was generally, “I took a chance, I did the crime and I got caught.” Later, he mused, their story degenerated into, “I had a lousy trial lawyer,” or “The judge hated me,” or “The jurors were all morons.” In short, it was everyone’s fault but their own.

Refusal to be accountable for one’s own actions isn’t limited to the criminal element. This disease has since pervaded society as a whole.

Although we’ve seen minor signs pop up here and there in the last 30 years, the first major outbreak occurred in 1994 with the case of Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants. This was the infamous hot coffee lawsuit in which the jury awarded the plaintiff $160,000 in compensatory damages, and $2.7 million in punitive damages because the restaurant neglected to warn her that her coffee was hot. As a result, each McDonald’s coffee cup now includes a caution (which no one reads) advising consumers that their coffee may be hot.

[SmileRight]

A good article by Michael Dorstewitz that gives us something to think about and the direction of our country. I hope we can turn it around soon.

[Da Coyote]

We had better do so.

Right now, only certain elements choose to knowingly disobey the law.

That will change. I no longer have much regard for it due to the fact that I see three tiers of law: one for those of us who produce things, another for the congressciters and their vermin brothers and sisters, and a third for illegal aliens. This cannot stand...nor will it stand for much longer.

[cap10mike]

It didn’t work out well for the Roman empire.