Simply My Opinion

Let me first tell you that I am new to this blogging thing. I am one of the senior partners here at this firm; some would say emphasis on “senior”. I have spent the better part of my life fighting for injured victims and I now realize that my country has become one of those injured victims. My feelings for my country are as fervent and passionate as my feelings for the clients I represent. The gentleman who runs our blog has advised me against this publish, because he felt it was too political; I, of course, am ignoring him.

As someone who used to be a die-hard Republican, I must confess that I am angry and appalled at what my government is doing to its people. Yes, my government; because you see, even when we would rail against what our government has become, in the end, it is still our responsibility.

To allow a president and his political party to become so powerful that even the most ridiculous propaganda is pandered to by the press, is dangerous. To allow a president to go untethered in waging a war that he brought us into through deception and half truths, is dangerous. To have a president and congress who decide to go on an extended vacation at the same time that our young men and women are fighting a civil war in a country they have no business being in, is dangerous. These things are dangerous because that is not what our Democracy was supposed to be about. We, the citizens, were supposed to be the boss. The president and legislature were supposed to serve at our leisure. The legislature was supposed to keep a watchful eye on the executive branch to protect the citizens and prevent a monarchy.

Instead, we have a president and executive branch who has inculcated a culture of corruption not only in Washington but in local Republican politics as well. The rich and powerful lobbyists have never had it so good and were it not for the courage of a few Democrat stalwarts in the Senate, the HMO’s, pharmaceutical industry and other big money contributors to the Republican coffers would have stripped the American people of their rights altogether.

Republicans in the Florida legislature worked to help out the insurance industry by predetermining that when a doctor or a hospital causes the death of a child, the pain and suffering of the parents is limited to only $500,000 for the doctor and $750,000 for the hospital. The elderly populations of Florida, who are frequently mistreated in nursing homes and hospitals, have been stripped of their rights to bring a valid claim against an abusive nursing home or a negligent doctor. If a doctor causes the death of an elderly person the pain and suffering of their spouse is limited to 500k. How surprising it is to an elderly husband or wife, who has lost his/her spouse of 50 golden years to know that the Republicans in Florida have determined that their mental anguish for the preventable death of her/his spouse is what the government says it is. Unfortunately, the political powers in Florida decided that young children and the elderly deserve less protection than do the rest of Florida’s citizens.

I am saddened that I foresee nothing but the politicians continuing this bent of ignoring their obligations to their “bosses”, we citizens, and wreaking even more havoc on an already injured nation. Vast sums of money paid by the tobacco and other industry giants result in a continued attitude of taking care of Corporate America and forgetting about my injured America.