Nowhere did I say I was a lawyer hater nor do I think would a reasonable person construe my comments that way. The criticism of the legal profession seems to be a red flag for you that you react to less rationally than most other topics. In and of itself I have no problem with that, racism has a similar effect on me and knowing that about myself I try to take that into account and carefully measure my words. I have two friends who are lawyers, one is really my SO's friend and he is a libertarian asshole but the other is a very nice person. I like her personally quite a bit and within the confines of the legal system she does her best to get a fair deal for peple. Knowing her tells me nothing about the legal system however.
I also never claimed I wanted or believed possible the fantasy of all commonsense rules that would eliminate the need for lawyers. You pulled that out of somewhere but not from my posts. You claim the role of lawyers is " writing and interpreting and arguing rules and their application" and this is necessary as you also point out. I never wrote one word to contradict this. Again however you trot out the MD analogy but doctors do not primarily do this. This is not the primary let alone only reason for their existence. It is a recent aspect thanks to capitalism. They study and interpret physical systems, biology and chemistry. They don't create diseases that only they can cure. They don't create organs that only they understand and treat. This difference is monumental and I'm beginning to think it is obvious to everyone except lawyers. Doctors are not primarily interpreting their own creation.
I know that lawyers are necessary for conflict resolution in complicated cases. I would damn well want a really fucking good lawyer if I were charged with murder but such cases are a very small part of what lawyers do. The bulk is BS like the filing of my quit-claim deed last month in a system that lawyers themselves have deliberately attempted to make themselves indispensible in. This is a for profit system and pretending that a great many of the rules were not intended to increase the income stream of the rules writers is what is the real fantasy.
I think there is a great deal wrong with the prescription drug practices in the US and I don't think I should need a doctors signature for tramadol to treat my tendonitis. I did however need a doctor when I broke 4 vertebrae in my back. I'm no more a "doctor hater" for stating this than I am a "lawyer hater" for making similar claims concerning the legal system.
Only slightly tongue-in-cheek do I suggest that white males shouldn't be allowed to be lawyers. They have no experience growing up in learning to effectively cope with being part of a disliked subset of society. Letting women and minorities be the only one's allowed to practice law makes good sense. We're used to it and can take it in stride better.
John Thornton
On 19 May 2006 at 20:05, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
> OK, you are a lawyer hater, a common type. All we have
> to do is toa dopt a simple set of commonsense rules
> that reasonable people can agree on and we do without
> these greedy and arrogant parasites. Alas, for reasons
> I've explained here, this is a fantasy in the modern
> world,a nd indeed was a fantasy as soon as societies
> became reasonably articulated with a moderately
> complex division of labor and clash of interests. The
> reason is obvious. Such societies generate conflicys
> and need predictable and enforceable rules to resolve
> these peacably. Rules are hard to write and interpret
> and nerver cover all the situations you want to cover.
> Hemce the need for specialists. And yeah, writing and
> interpreting and arguing rules and their application
> is every bit as necesasry for the operation of society
> and every bit as much a real skill -- a techne --as
> medicine. There is a lot a nonlawyer can do ny himself
> -- you make contracts every time you buy a quart of
> milk -- but there's a lot of simple medicine you can
> practice without an MD. And the MDs aren't any better
> that the lawyers about monopolizing areas of practice
> that you don't need an MD for -- best Dr I ever had
> was a a PA, she just had to get the Drs sig on the
> prescription pad. But no matter, we've been hated
> since Hammurabi, so I suppose I should be more thick
> skinned.