Omnibus Part 2
PREVIEW OF POST-ELECTION ISSUE COVERAGE (CONT.)
By
Ken Eliasberg
Continuing with my summary treatment of post-election issues that I intend to cover later in considerable depth, let’s take a look at 3 or 4 more of the major problems confronting America, and what I think should be done about them with respect to a solution. Last week I covered 5; let’s tackle a few more this week.
6. TORT REFORM — PROBLEM: OUR LEGAL SYSTEM IS BEING
SERIOUSLY AND SUBSTANTIALLY ABUSED BY AVARICIOUS
ATTORNEYS, AND THEY ARE AIDED BY A SYSTEM THAT
IS CONDUCIVE TO ABUSE
As a consequence, these wasteful lawsuits result in (1) adding
billions to the cost of doing business in our economy (not to mention
adding billions to the cost of consumer goods); (2) doing serious and
very substantial damage to our health care system, and (3) turning
our legal system into some sort of lottery. In addition to ridiculous
judgments, many of these suits are frivolous, initiated in the hopes
that their nuisance value will have a coercive effect - and in many
cases they do just that. A similar approach is now being taken by
certain Islamic extremist individuals and groups designed to
discourage an open discussion of terrorism and terrorism related
activites, i.e. intimidation by litigation
SOLUTION: Do one or more of the following: (1) Cap punitive
damages at $250,000.00, (2) provide that only the Judge has authority
to decide the issue of punitive damages, i.e. take the emotion out of the
decision and thereby cut down on the extravagant awards, and/or (3)
institute a loser pays system of tort litigation, i.e. if you’re going to
bring a frivolous or nuisance suit, you’re going to pay for it. Indeed,
where it can be clearly demonstrated that the entire purpose of the suit
was to silence the defendant, and the suit was otherwise without merit — as
in the case of almost all of the suits brought by various Islamists and
Islamist sympathizers — then I would place no limit on punitives (the sky’s
the limit); I have absolutely no sympathy for those who would not only
abuse our legal system, but do so in a manner calculated to silence free
speech.
7. REFORM ORGANIZED LABOR - AN IDEA WHOSE TIME IS
LONG OVERDUE.
Labor Unions were introduced to give the laborer some form of leverage in
his bargaining efforts with management. The purpose was to protect
competent laborers from the arbitrary actions of a possibly tyrannical
management, i.e. to provide some sort of negotiation parity, a more
democratic arrangement, if you will. And Unions were conceived by and,
for the most part, run by men of integrity, e.g. Samuel Gompers, George
Meany, John L. Lewis, etc. Alas, organized labor has wandered far from
thisquaint ideology. Today’s Unions are there to protect incompetent
employees from the routine machinations of management — try firing a
Union employee, no matter how incompetent. Can it be done? Of course,
but the cost of doing so is so high that most managers would rather just
either retain the incompetent and/or move him to a spot where he cannot
do too much damage. Compound his incompetence by giving him minority
status, and, not only will you have to deal with his Union, but you may
well have the NAACP all over you, accusing you of racism. In addition,
Unions have experienced penetration at various times — including the
present — by gangsters, communists, and other undesirables, resulting in
both their monies and their purpose being diverted. The head of the most
powerful Union today, John Sweeney, is an avowed Socialist. Moreover,
there is nothing democratic about how they operate — 40% of their
membership votes Republican; better than 95% of Union monies
(including the dues of the 40% Republicans) go to Democratic causes (not
to mention the value of Union manpower made available to Democrats
during election periods). Indeed, without the support of Organized Labor,
the Democrats are out of business (and, in this regard, no Unions provide
more concentrated support for Democratic causes than the Teacher’s
Unions (it seems that education has gone downhill as Union political
participation has increased)).
SOLUTION: CLEAN UP AND DEMOCRATIZE UNIONS. HOW?
BY STRENGTHENING OVERSIGHT AGENCIES AND GIVING
THEM ENFORCEMENT TEETH TO DEAL WITH NON-
COMPLIANCE SITUATIONS, ENCOURAGING THEM TO DO
SO, AND GIVING THEM WHATEVER SUPPORT THEY NEED
TO DO THE JOB.
8. EDUCATION REFORM — RAISE STANDARDS AND
PERFORMANCE (OF BOTH STUDENTS AND TEACHERS):
ELIMINATE GUARANTEED EMPLOYMENT (TENURE). AND,
MOST IMPORTANT, PROVIDE FOR PRIVATIZATION
Notwithstanding the erroneous nonsense that you may have read (in this paper) our educational system is broken, and it has been going down hill for the past 40 years. Students are not learning because teachers are not being asked to teach (and many of them could not even if requested to do so). We have so dumbed down America that we may have passed the point of no return, i.e. it’s too broke too fix it. An average of 50% of teachers could not pass California’s CBEST exam, an exam pitched to the 8th to 10th grade student level (the failure percentage is greater for minority teachers). Moreover, students are not learning much of anything, but that doesn’t seem to matter; to compensate for this fact, we have employed the concept of social promotion, i.e. you advance and eventually graduate even if you are a functional illiterate. As a consequence, a huge number of college admittees are required to take remedial courses to compensate for their educational deficiencies (in this regard, it must be noted that our colleges have experienced a similar deterioration). Our resident lefty called attention to Diane Ravitch’s criticisms in this regard. Of course, she is right, and there are many experts who would support her position. To argue that our public education system is not in serious trouble is to operate in an alternate reality.
What to do? Get rid of bad teachers, reward good teachers, eliminate tenure (or at the very least defer it for 10 years and then make it available on a meritorious basis, not as a guarantee). Then raise the standards for student performance, and lean on both teachers and students until the revised standards are met. In short, do not lower standards to meet inadequate performance; raise the level of performance to meet the appropriately higher standards.
Privatization of education is essential, but time and space does not permit treatment of such in this column. Suffice it to say that we must allow the fresh air of free enterprise to flow through the corridors of our educational institutions.