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Renewing Limited Government: Litigation

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: You can't convince me that tort reform can't be successful in America. You can't tell me that damages can't be limited without limiting the true freedom of Americans. And if you could institute such limits, the overall society would greatly benefit from the added freedom enjoyed by the marketplace....

Renewing Limited Government: Litigation

Limit The Lawyers, And Watch The Economy Bloom Lately I've been praying for a return to limited government in America. Thanks to the "progressive" movement, the U.S. federal government has grown to monstrous proportions not imagined by our Founders... and the growth of government shows no sign of slowing. But unless we rein in the government, and free the wonderful power of the free market of free ideas and people, my children will never live to see the return of the real American dream.

I've written about seven renewed limits on the U.S. federal government - limits which are crucial to the revitalization of America and the preservation of the safe haven that this nation is for the rest of the world. National elected officials should be term limited, to prevent "career" politicians from settling into comfortable professions in government (and to prevent the perverse incentives attached to such careers). Legislation should be limited to no more words or pages than were used to create the U.S. Constitution. And the government should be limited to a percentage of the free-market-generated Gross Domestic Product when it comes to spending.

Further, I've espoused limits on taxation, debt, bureaucracy, and regulation. If other limits were renewed, the government could easilly get by on no more than 10-15 percent taxation on the incomes of Americans. Federal debt could be limited to a much lower number, and eventually, America could

completely climb out of the debt hole it's dug for itself. A limit on government agencies, and the number of people they could employ and regulations they could implement, would also greatly aid the market economy.

In addition, I think there are a few limits you could institute upon the "pseudo-government" institutions that have sprung up around the federal bureaucracy. Chief among these would be "tort reform" - the elusive effort to limit the lawyers in this country.

Currently, it seems as if too many people sue too many companies for too much money. And there are always willing attorneys ready to take those cases, looking for lucrative paydays for people who find the magic ice upon which they can slip to line their pockets.

You can't convince me that tort reform can't be successful in America. You can't tell me that damages can't be limited without limiting the true freedom of Americans. And if you could institute such limits, the overall society would greatly benefit from the added freedom enjoyed by the marketplace.

For instance, lawsuits against doctors have become crazy. If you really want medical reform in America (and what career politician does?), start with medical tort reform.

Here's the plan: if someone truly wrongs you, you should be able to sue to "make yourself well," and to cover whatever expenses you incur from being wronged. That's called "actual" damages, and those shouldn't be limited. But the "punitive damages" - a literal reference to the money confiscated by the courts to punish wrong-doing entitites - should be limited to a percentage (say, 100%) of the actual damages.

That means that, if you pull through the drive-through to get a coffee and you fail to understand that the beverage you're about to enjoy is hot (and, subsequently, you burn yourself and stain your clothes), you should get the amount of money you need to pay your dry cleaning bill and your doctor bill for fixing the burn... and then, maybe, an equal sum to compensate you for your pain and suffering and to

"punish" the fast food company. That's a few hundred bucks, and then you'd be "well" from the incident. You shouldn't get millions for being too stupid to realize that coffee is hot.

Imagine how much more incentive there'd be to start a business, invest, employ, and make investments in America if we had such reform. Right now, too many potential job-creators are too scared to jump into the entrepreneurial pool for fear of the "punitive" legal environment in this nation.

I believe we can limit litigation in American without limiting freedom. And it would be better for the country - and the world that depends on America - if we did.

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Article Tags: entrepreneurship, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility, wealth building



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