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"Alas for you lawyers also! You load men with intolerable
burdens, and will not lift a finger to lighten the load." Luke, Chapter 11, v.
26, The Revised English Bible, 1997.
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". . . [L]itigation spreads like a poisonous weed along the
furrows of the fields." Hosea, Chapter 10, v. 4, The Revised English Bible,
1997.
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Sounds like our Congress and
state and local legislative bodies. Most of the laws passed by Congress which
are burdensome to us do not apply to Congress. Congress has a pension plan which
puts most pension plans to shame. Various laws concerning employment and
discrimination do not apply to Congress.
While we live in a complicated world which requires in some
ways more complicated laws, we do not need the degree of complexity we have. We
also do not need all of the laws at the national level. Many matters which are
purely state or local matters are now controlled by national laws, which is not necessary.
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I once heard a law professor respond to a question about
whether law schools were turning out too many lawyers by stating that there are
so many complicated laws in our country that there are lots of law suits just waiting to
be filed. There is a direct connection between the ever increasing complexity of
our statutes and regulations and the ever increasing amount of litigation. Also
encouraging increasing litigation are the idea that people with problems are
victims who should be compensated and the use of litigation as a tool to
accomplish what can only be done by making life too expensive and difficult for
the person who is sued. With
this increasing amount of litigation, there is increasing expense and a constant
spiral towards the increasing misuse of litigation.
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