The Enemy R Us Paul Greenberg
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 18, 2004 As Pulitzer Prize winning editorialist Paul Greenberg watched CG Chair Philip K. Howard debate prominent trial lawyer Chip Welch, he came to realize that the enemy in today's litigious society is us, "our very human propensity to get whatever we can." In an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial, Greenberg endorses Common Good's vision of restoring common sense to American society and law.
"Think of it," Greenberg writes. "[C]ommon sense will be restored to society; lawyers will be respected instead of being the subject of lawyer jokes; and the law itself will be honored instead of looked on as just a legal form of extortion."
"There's more," he adds. "Doctor's won't have to practice defensive medicine ... [w]hich means a sizable slice of the national expenditure on health care could actually go to making us healthier! ... Teachers won't have to fear being dragged into court because they dared discipline unruly students."
Philip K. Howard has diagnosed a "paralyzing social disease," writes Greenberg. "The man has a talent for putting simply what every doctor, teacher, nurse, businessman and anybody else who's ever been threatened with some nuisance lawsuit has come to know all too well. ... The most ridiculous claims make the headlines while just claims may disappear in the clogged legal system."
In the Arkansas debate, Howard was challenged by trial lawyer Chip Welch, who delivered a performance that "was both something to see and deeply dispiriting." Greenberg writes:
"Heck, after listening for a while, you could feel yourself starting to look around for somebody you could sue for fun and profit, or at least extract a generous settlement from. And you begin to realize that the enemy R us. And our very human propensity to get whatever we can."
He concludes:
"Philip Howard most of all realizes that his ideas are meant just as springboards for discussion and hearings, not the final word. He's not so much out to change laws or institutions but to change attitudes--that is, our whole, litigious culture.
That kind of sea change will not be easy or simple to effect. But at least Philip Howard has got the discussion under way. And, strangely enough, those who dream impossible dreams have a way of exerting more influence in the long run than those who think we already live in the best of all possible worlds."
This op-ed was republished in the Greenwich Time (CT) and The Advocate (CT).
Click to read the full editorial.
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