LESSON 13

 Conclusion

 

Section 1.  Critique of American Society and Law

 

Subsection 1.1.  One million prisoners, one million lawyers, 200 million guns

 

The three figures above represent the most concise and sharp critique of contemporary American society. (Note: The figures in 2015 are 2.2 million prisoners, 1.3 million lawyers, 3 hundred million guns)

 

The United States have over a million prisoners. The figure reflect the increase in crime. The trend towards increase is a result of rapid increase in taking illegal drug, drug trafficking, and the drug related crimes in the past two decades.

 

The total population of the United States is only two hundred and fifty million but the nation has more than two hundred million guns, or almost one gun per person. The flood of guns have already seriously endangered the safety of the entire society. Due to the over two hundred years of unchecked no gun control tradition, plus the political pressure applied by the lobbying of gun owner organization such the the National Rifle Association and gun manufacturers, it is virtually impossible for America to control guns.

 

Another guide post undeserving of pride is that the number of lawyers has exceeded on million. The phenomenon of excessive number of lawyers and the flood of litigations ha been discussed in previous chapters and also below, so it is skipped over here.

 

Besides the above frightening figures, another problem that reflects the hidden problem of American society is the fragility of marriage. The number of single parent families rises rapidly. According the warning of some experts, if the trend of  increasing rate of divorce continues, one of these days the number of marriage and divorce will be even. In other words, on the average for every couple who marry there is a couple getting divorced.

 

The entire system of politics, society, economy and law in the United States is built on the foundation of individual freedom. However, the above figures and phenomenon are the consequence of excessive freedom, the lack of restraint and discipline. These are the hidden worries of American society and culture. I bring up these figures in order to remind those preparing to immigrate to the United States to recognize a not so bright side of American society. The analysis of these problems are beyond the scope of this book. I merely wish this book to be able to help the reader understand the basic structure and legal principles and spirit in this society, so that they can have a comprehensive and not a superficial perspective of the problems.

 

Subsection 1.2.  Too Many Lawyers and Rampant Litigations

 

The flood of lawsuits in the United States has been discussed in detail previously. The principal reasons for the flood include the development in recent decades of insurance companies which have become the bread and butter of lawyers, the increasingly complex government regulations, the explosion of drug related criminal cases, and so on.

 

In one of the Mid West states in the United States, some one filed a lawsuit against the Pepsi Cola Company, alleging that after he drank a cola, he discovered an injection needle at the bottom of the can and demanded damages from Pepsi Company. After the case was reported in the media, hundreds of lawsuits emerged claiming that  needles are found in the cola can and claiming damages. The government later investigated and discovered that all the lawsuits, including the allegations of the initial accuser, were all false. From this story one can see that there are too many people in America who believe they can make a big or small fortune by utilizing the law.

 

Undeniably the numerous lawsuits in America are related to too many lawyers. The number of American lawyers is the largest in the world. For example in California, there is one lawyer for every two hundred and fifty people. Too many lawyers and rampant litigations have an important impact on American society. I have mentioned it many times in this book. A summary follows.

 

First, too many lawyers and insurance are related, but the increasingly heavy burden eventually falls on the shoulders of the American people and big and small businesses. A common family pay insurance for housing, car, medical care. Those doing business buy different kinds of commercial insurance. The professionals like lawyers, doctors and accountants need to buy professional insurance. After all these insurance premiums are paid, what is left to pay living expenses is very limited. This is the reality.

 

Second, the rampant litigations not only have an impact on the economy, they threaten the behavior of people in their daily lives. With some exaggeration, from the president down to a child six years old are affected.

 

Third, too many lawyers encourage lawsuits but also create layers and layers of legislations, rule, case precedents, etc., pushing American society towards bureaucracy and inhibiting the free development of the economy.

 

Fourth, the flood of lawsuits in recent years also created a distorted, shedding personal responsibility kind of "culture of victim". This phenomenon shakes up American culture and value system and is quite discouraging.  

 

For various reasons, the American government, the Congress and the courts are becoming concerned about the problem of the flood of lawsuits and have some degree of simplifications and restrictions, such as promoting arbitration to replace trials. The insurance companies are getting tougher in resisting baseless, exaggerated or excessive compensation demands. In recent years the litigations and the legal profession are showing trends of decline. I myself am a lawyer but in the interest of the America society as a whole, I believe these trends should be encouraged.

 

Subsection 1.3. The Culture of Victimization

 

There is a book entitled "A Nation of Victims:  the Decay of American character" by Charles J. Sykes which points out that the United States have developed a trend towards a culture of victims. Three types of people have created this trend - lawyers, psychotherapists, and academicians.

 

What is a culture of victimization?  Let us illustrate with a true example.

 

In 1987, a woman named Toni weighing three hundred and five pounds applied for a job as retail sales person with a health food market.  The management staff believed that the body style of Toni was not appropriate to sales of their products. Additionally she was too heavy and moved with difficulties and could not stay on her feet too long. She was not suitable for the sales job at the store. So they did not accept her job application. Encouraged by groups advocating "rights of fat people", Toni filed a lawsuit against the health food store accusing it of discrimination against fat people. This example illustrates that, as long as Americans feel that their rights have been infringed upon, or that they have been unfairly treated, they will seek "equalization" and damages, because they are victims.

 

The American law against discrimination was originally intended to protect the unfortunate or disadvantaged people so that they are not hurt by other people. As society develops, the kinds of discrimination continue to expand: anti-racial, gender, handicapped discriminations are understood more easily by the general public. But discrimination against aging, (such as an employer cannot fire an employee and hire someone else because the employee is too old), anti homosexual discrimination and anti-obesity discrimination are harder to understand and accept by the general populace. (Note: the LBGT are scoring big victories in same sex marriage and women are winning the right to engage in combat in the military etc.)

 

In the United States, once a person is covered by a discriminated category and this "victim" status is confirmed by law, then he is protected legally and has the right to demand the "oppressor" to pay him compensation. Thus, fighting to gain "victim" status is the chief aim of various interest groups. The above example of discrimination against obese persons is a typical example. The interest groups often exaggerate their membership number and the degree of their "victimization" so that they can increase their practical benefits and their political influence.

 

In contemporary Unite States, when someone commits an offense, the first thing he does is not to reflect about himself but to hire a lawyer to get him off the offense. The most important thing is finding a scape goat (preferably someone with insurance). Further, he needs to find a reason that caused him to commit the offense. He tried his best to make himself not only innocent, but actually a victim. Previously we discussed the 1995 case in Los Angeles where the parents were murdered. The murderers of their parents actually defended themselves by claiming that they had been abused by their father, giving them no option but to kill the parents. And in the first trial, among the 12 jurors, six believed that the murderers had been "victims" of the father's abuse. In the United States, the excuse of "victimization" is conveniently useful.

 

It is actually kind of funny. According to a research, if one adds up all the "victims" in the United States, such as gays, handicapped, discriminated women, racial minorities and so on, the total number of "victims" in the United States will total 357% of the entire population. And the reason for this figure? It is because many people suffer multiple discriminations. For example, an elderly, handicapped homosexual, racially minority woman, not only suffers double discrimination, she suffers the most kinds and most serious "victimization". In order not to lose out, some white males are now advocating "reverse discrimination," meaning that the white males are impacted by anti-discrimination policies. Relative to the various kinds of protection against racial and gender discriminations, they are receiving unequal treatments.  They are vocal in demanding the status of being "victims". 

 

In recent years, there is a trend towards an entire nation of victims in the United States.  Actually this trend is very unfair to those who are truly discriminated against because if the entire country are victims, the helpless and truly discriminated victims will inevitably be crowded out or marginalized by other victims and their advocacy groups as limited resources are parceled out in bits and pieces.