GUIDED BY GREED

This thing in New Jersey with Governor Chris Christie has a side the media seems to avoid, which is that the lawyers in this nation are corrupt. They are so corrupt that they make is seem as if our laws are corrupt. For example, the Governor hired a law firm he has control over, to be paid for by the tax payer of the state who he has control over, to investigate his alleged misdoings. He should be investigated; that is not the problem. The problem is that the lawyer the governor hired took the job! What self-respecting professional would besmirch his reputation to do something so obviously wrong; you notice I did not use the ‘word’ illegal, because it is legal. What is worse, it that the people expected it; not just New jersey or the East Coast but the entire United States.

Look at the involvement of legal firms in facet after facet of the entire situation. Every one knows the New York-New Jersey Port Authority is corrupt because the chair of that agency is also a member of the law firm that conducts the business of that agency. He is not the least bit ashamed of having that association known; apparently, in his world it is business as usual. Even a lowly parking lot leased from the Port Authority is owned by that agency; without knowing anything else, do you think the lease will be fair? We all know legal maneuvering has corrupted development projects in Hoboken and New Town, New Jersey. In addition, the distributions of Sandy Hurricane Relief funds have been corrupted but we also know that even the investigations of the investigation of “suspicious” distributions of these funds are corrupt. All of these things have one thing in common; lawyers!

Lawyers have worked their devious way into every facet of our lives. We know it. The result is that when we need a lawyer we try very hard to avoid hiring one because we know they are going to “rip us off”. At a time when we are paying so much public attention to health care this is interesting that another “profession” has such similar and deep seated problems. We avoid going to a doctor or dentist unless we really have to, because it costs too much, just as we avoid going to a lawyer for an amicable divorce, establishing a property line, or applying for a patent. The greatest danger is hiring an attorney to investigate something. As we found out in New Jersey, it is like going to a dentist to clean your teeth. By the time it is over, you will be thousand so dollars in debt; the dental hygienist pulled off filling, casued other damage, exposed gum disease that has to be cured, or uncovered other maladies. I had a dentist charge $90 for pushing a metal ruler down alongside a tooth to measure the attachment of the tooth to the jaw. When challenged he said he spent four years in dental school; to him that was enough of an explanation.

What is the solution to the lawyer problem? Perhaps there is a solution similar to the solution to the health care problem. I read a saying about lawyers; “If we didn’t have them we wouldn’t need them?” How would a jury of twelve peers judge Chris Christie?  The problem centers on the word “how”. At one time, the country of Belize had a law that said it was illegal to be a lawyer: it was about the time of the civil war in the United States. To day, in the Belizean Creole language, the word ‘lawyer’ is pronounced ‘lair’, which may be quaint but accurate. Unfortunately, like in health care we need doctors, we do need lawyers; there is honor in the law even iuf sometimes It is difficult to find.  

Perhaps, some form of legal insurance in order. As with health care, it is too late to worry about needing a lawyer once you need one. Also, poor people need legal care as much as rich people, so distribution of the cost seems in order. However, as with the craziness in New Jersey, unlike health care, institutions and agencies need legal guidance. When we take the final step from individuals and families, to cities, states, and federal governments, we find they need legal direction that we all agree on. We cannot live without laws especially those we do not agree on. If I dissect the problems, we have with attorneys, I think it is based on greed—a universal human trait. I would like to say we all base what we do on individual greed but that is not the case. Groups of any description have greed; a lawyer has greed for his bank account, just as a family has greed for their children, or a political party has greed for power.

The only solution—which is not a solution but a course—seems to continue on the way we are going, knowing greed is guiding us, which has put us on a course that will eventually devour us—like dodo birds.   

URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated