The concept is simple: if you write the script, it’s not that difficult to declare yourself the only one qualified to perform in the play. And it’s not just for actors. The people who earn lots of money helping people navigate a tax code so complex it’s almost funny while, at the same time, doing their best to make it more complex by the day. Or the marketing people, who invent such mind-numbing dribble that only they can ‘translate’ it for the rest of us. They make lots of money, too, more than the CPAs.
But today I want to talk about lawyers. I know a few lawyers, and there are a few lawyers I like, but I loathe the profession. We have this system, according to the history books I’ve read, built on the concept that the government is by the people and for the people. It doesn’t say anything about lawyers as I recall, although I haven’t read the constitution lately. So where did all the snotty, stuck up and outrageously expensive law schools come into the picture? Speaking of outrageously expensive, what’s up with legal fees? If our society is based on participatory governance why is it considered so ill-advised to represent yourself in court? And why does it routinely cost people and their families their life savings to avoid doing so? Well, probably because the lawyers said so, that’s why. Lawyers, in my experience, look out for other lawyers. They write their opinions to one another. They play fancy games with one another while lives hang in the balance. They’ve managed to degrade and pervert the constitution into something that only they can understand. It’s a strategy to be applauded, really, if self-preservation is your thing.
On that note, it’s interesting to hear the braying about Obama’s latest court nominee, Elena Kagan, having no judicial experience. That’s her most redeeming feature, in my opinion. I applaud the president for nominating someone who has never worn a costume to work that’s designed to intimidate people and slammed a gavel around. Otherwise, I think Elena Kagan is another tired byproduct of the same sad state of affairs. I’m waiting for the day when someone who has never been to law school has a seat on the court. I think majoring in philosophy would provide good background. What about an investigative reporter or two? What about a teacher? Why must they all be lawyers?
But back to Elena Kagan: After his truly painful attempt at baseball uniform humor, the president proclaimed her a trailblazer. Really? Of what? She was the first woman dean of the Harvard Law School, certainly one of the most snob-trodden institutions in the country, a position she held before even turning 50, which says to me that connections are far more important to her than convictions. Her entire background, to me anyhow, seems like a barely disguised organizational chart of favors granted and called in. She hired a bunch of conservatives at Harvard, because apparently compromising is what liberal people do best these days. She did get into a bit of controversy by not allowing the military to recruit on campus, but as best I can tell it had nothing to do with her initiative and everything with her carrying out orders from some higher point of authority. Like most conformists, she’s been appointed to one thing and another. If she is a lesbian, the fact that she hasn’t said so is yet another letdown in my book. The conservative talkies this week have said many times that she was somehow involved with Goldman Sachs. I haven’t looked that up but if it’s true, well, I guess that’s a good snapshot of Obama’s notion of reform, which seems to be his favorite word.
She was a member of the Clinton crew.
She did, in her defense, as solicitor general argue against the court’s recent ruling to give its corporate sponsors the same first amendment rights as the rest of us. She lost, unfortunately, but, as all the pro-Kagan people have been saying, over and over and over again, she really did hit it off with the justices, engaging them in an energetic back-and-forth about the case. I guess if she’s good enough to converse with the gods, she should probably become one, blazing her trail and all.
