Jimmy Carter died today at age 100.
As the President for four years between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan his accomplishments were often overshadowed by problems with high inflation and 52 Americans being held hostage by Iran for 444 days.
However, for 44 years he has been our most outstanding former president ever. He was an engineer, farmer, Sunday School teacher, and builder of homes for Habitat for Humanity. He was a true servant leader.
Now, on to the main topic for this week. I have friends who are lawyers. We are blessed with plenty of good, honest lawyers.
We also have an oversupply of lawyers who mess with the natural flow of our economy and our justice system. This is not new. Will Rogers made the same point ninety years ago, “Went down and spoke at some lawyers’ meeting [American Bar Association convention] last night. They didn’t think much of my little squib yesterday about driving the shysters out of their profession. They seemed to kinder doubt just who would have to leave.” (DT#2791, July 16, 1935).
Here is an example. President Biden granted clemency to 37 federal prisoners on death row for murder. Instead of being executed, they will remain in prison for the rest of their lives. (Yes, Joe Biden has a law degree. He graduated in 1968 from Syracuse in the bottom 10% of the class.)
You have already read or heard complaints about this undeserved leniency. I have a different take on the issue. In one case a policeman in Columbus was murdered and the man confessed. That happened TWENTY YEARS ago. Why wasn’t he executed a few weeks or months after his trial? Most of the 37 have been on death row for many years. Why?
In these examples, our legal system is out of control. Most, if not all, of those 37 men should have been executed years ago. Biden did not grant clemency to three of the very worst who killed multiple victims. One, Dylan Roof, killed 9 church members in South Carolina and was convicted 7 years ago. Why is he still “enjoying” life in a federal prison?
Illegal immigration highlights another example. Lawyers who favor open borders prevent rapid court decisions on deportation, meaning that once immigrants sneak in, it takes years to kick them out. Sanctuary cities have mayors who are… lawyers.
President-elect Trump has promised to deport illegal immigrants, starting with those who have committed heinous crimes. That’s probably over a million. Here’s my suggestion: Make every illegal immigrant we deport take his lawyer(s) with him. That would speed up the deportation process and save us Billions of dollars. (Do you realize we taxpayers are paying the salaries, directly or indirectly, of these lawyers?)
Guatemala announced they would accept our deported immigrants with no place to go home to. But I rather doubt they would accept their lawyers.
While I’m picking on shyster lawyers… we have too many lawyers and not enough professional engineers. I’m not taking sides on Elon Musk’s comment that we need to allow companies to hire more foreign engineers. But it’s a fact, our schools and universities are not producing enough engineers, scientists, and other technical experts. Too many lawyers decided algebra and physics classes were too hard, so they chose an easier path through school.
Happy New Year to you! (including lawyers!)
Historic quotes by Will Rogers:
“A comedian is not supposed to be serious nor to know much. As long as he is silly enough to get laughs, why, people let it go at that. But I claim you have to have a serious streak in you or you can’t see the funny side in the other fellow.” WA #13, March 11, 1923
“Did you read how many thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of students just graduated all over the country in law? Going to take an awful lot of crime to support that bunch.” DT#1527, June 15, 1931