Damocles wrote:

I need clarification wrote:

Damocles wrote:

Besides, do you think judges are morons?

Actually, I believe he does. And of course this is the crux of what he believes to be the problem: anyone can bring a lawsuit, regardless of merit, against anyone else for any amount of money and for any reason. Judges are morons who allow the cases to proceed, and juries are too easily swayed by the tales of scalded laps or gunned-down little kids, etc.

I don't know what the current standard is for a case to pass muster with a judge, and in fact I'm not 100% sure it's in the judge's hand to decide whether a civil lawsuit can proceed. Either way, I have the feeling most judges, moronic or not, are inclined to allow any lawsuit that doesn't contain the word "Martians" in the text to at least be heard by a jury. Juries of course tend to be sympathetic to the victim. You can usually tell who the victim is, because they're the one who is sucking on a respirator, or busy being paralyzed from the waist down due to a stray bullet, or couldn't make it to court that day because the policy at the cemetary is no corpses can leave of their own accord during the day or non-full-moon night.

I'll stop you right there, although this is a hell of a lot more reasonable than anything L_K wrote. (Well, about news... he likes Moore so he can't be all bad.)

There's one enormous problem with this train of thought, and it is this: "if judges are dumbasses and we should let the legislators decide everything, what happens if the legislators are even bigger dumbasses"? Except that you should replace that "what if Congress is filled with stupid people with "Congress is filled to the fucking brim with ignorant retards". Hell, I'm amazed that most Congressional Representatives don't require diapers and drool guards. Sure, there are exceptions here and there, but by and large they don't have the power- the ones with the power are the ones with the right friends or family. And unlike judges, where there are layers and layers of reviews, you just get one shot with Congress, because it's an unholy bitch for most legislators to dislodge most laws.

(Saying "PERSONALRESPONSIBLITYLIBERTARINPARADISE" or some bullshit like that won't help either, because it'll just mean that corporate America gets to strap on the REALLY FUCKING BIG DILDO before they open you up like the Goatse.cx guy. Does nobody remember what Edward Norton's character DID in Fight Club? That shit isn't made up.

Let's face it- dumbasses abound. I'll take the judicial dumbasses over the legislative dumbasses any time.