This week, the nation received a lesson on what it means to act like an adult. Unfortunately, it took President Trump’s infantile response to the death of Sen. John McCain to provide that lesson, although I’m guessing that most of us really didn’t need to learn it. There are probably few people in America – left or right – who agreed with Sen. McCain on every important policy issues. But his death – and most importantly, his life – demanded respect, appreciation and support. And it meant for at least a moment, setting aside disagreements, especially political ones.
With such graciousness in mind, we would like to present to you the views of some folks with whom we share very little politically, but who have taken a principled position against an Arkansas ballot initiative – Issue One - that would cap compensation to injured victims, so-called “tort reform.” We respect, appreciate and support them for this, full stop.
First is the Christian conservative and pro-life movement:
Family Council Action Committee, a conservative Christian group, has begun rallying church leaders against a tort reform measure on the ballot attempting to limit damages awarded in lawsuit payouts, saying that placing caps on payouts undermines the value of human life and conflicts with the basic Christian principle of justice. The Council believes the measure is an indication that a person’s life is determined by his or her paycheck at the time of a tragedy.…
The Family Council is organizing meetings with church leaders to support its position and handing out flyers stating, “Don’t Put A Price Tag On Human Life.” Inserts have been given to leaders to include with their bulletins.…
“The Bible is full of references to justice, and (the proposal) creates an environment where the powerful can tip the scales of justice against everybody else, but especially the poor,” Jerry Cox, the Family Council’s head, said at a recent meeting. Rose Mimms, the head of Arkansas Right to Life, also spoke out against reform, stating it “erodes our own pro-life efforts” in the state.
Second is extreme right political groups:
From the stopped-clock school of politics: Secure Arkansas, a far-right group known particularly for opposition to immigration, lays out here many reasons to oppose Issue One, the proposed amendment that would cap damages in lawsuits, restrict attorney fees in those suits and strip the Supreme Court of rule-making power in favor of the corrupt, special-interest controlled legislature.… Secure Arkansas notes that so-called "tort reform" is part of the Koch-backed American Legislative Exchange Council agenda and being pushed by ALEC acolytes …
ALEC legislators are more loyal to the ALEC agenda to promote corporate-friendly legislation in the states than to state law or constitution, Secure Arkansas charges, and lists ways ALEC promotes a corporate agenda, not the public welfare. Drug companies are among the beneficiaries it cites.
The growing conservative opposition to laws that weaken the civil justice system and individual rights is something we noted here before - almost decade ago. These views are clearly gaining momentum, having also played a role in slowing down congressional interest in “tort reform” laws last year. As we noted then, “It may have taken awhile for the conservative backlash against ‘tort reform’ to begin in a major way. We’re just happy it finally did.”
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