There is a paradox at work in this election. Maybe it can be chalked up to a lack of wisdom, or a disregard for wisdom amongst newly minted adults, (a.k.a.) the youth vote. When polled about who they trust (by occupation), people have consistently ranked Doctors and Teachers at the top of the list, and Lawyers at or near the bottom.
In a 2006 Harris Poll, lawyers would have maintained their position at the bottom of the trustworthiness barrel, except for the fact that the Pollster included Actors as a new choice. Actors are now at the bottom of the list, bumping Lawyers up a notch to second least trustworthy.
I suppose lawyers are inherently bound to be untrustworthy. Their duty to advocate for clients requires the use of blinders and shaded glasses. The de facto standard for all other people on the planet is that honesty is a non-negotiable precondition to good citizenship. Holding lawyers to the same standard would mean criminals could never obtain adequate representation in court.
Lawyers are trained to put the truth in their back pocket, lest they be tempted to violate a client's right to representation. Not withstanding the fact that lawyers will argue the notion, many will have a difficult time finding the contents of their back pocket outside of the lawyer-client setting. Everyone tends to become what we practice. Physicians are not expected to leave their medical knowledge at the clinic.
It seems that in order to maintain a sense of normalcy, lawyers have no choice but to adopt an altered view of truth. One of the highest-resolution mental snapshots of this phenomenon at work was in the case of Bill Clinton, defending his blatant disregard for honesty while giving testimony to a Grand Jury.
Remember: "…it depends on what the definition of IS, is".
Americans have a lot of common-sense wisdom in their gut, and in that light they have ranked lawyers near or at the bottom of the trustworthiness scale. Nevertheless, voters have consistently put those they find least trustworthy (lawyers) in power. Fifty-nine lawyer Senators (59%) and one-hundred seventy-four lawyer Representatives (40%) were elected to the 110th Congress.
None of this makes a bit of sense. Americans have entrusted their most precious asset (this unique country) to people they trust the least, and according to recent polls, voters are thinking about putting another lawyer in power, Barack Obama.
Senator Obama still maintains that his association with un-repentant terrorists is no big deal. In fact, he describes William Ayers as a well-respected college professor, even though Ayers has said there were too few domestic terrorist bombings. Obama now says he does not agree with Ayers' methods. Senator Obama tells us that his bigoted America hating pastor of twenty years is not someone he agrees with either.
I don't know, but coming out in the light of a national election, these denouncements are not convincing at all. The integrity that Obama (allegedly) keeps in his rear pocket has been waved in our faces, sort of like flashing a badge without giving us time to read what it says.
Democrats hold a majority in both Houses of Congress, and Democrats have been wailing incessantly, telling the American people how Republicans (especially G. W. Bush) are to blame for everything wrong in America. These are lawyers, people, and 68% of you believe lawyers are not going to be truthful.
Sixty-nine percent of Americans polled believe that Actors are the least trustworthy of all, and that they are least likely to tell the truth. Yet, actors hands-down are stumping for Barack Obama, a lawyer who ranks only one percentage point higher in trustworthiness than actors. The Actors are considered the least capable of telling you the truth, yet many Americans have believed them, accepting their assessment of what is good for America, and who is to blame for the problems we face as a nation.
None of this makes any sense folks. Why don't you listen to that common sense voice that guides you in all else that you do. Actors and lawyers are working overtime; spending tens of millions of dollars trying to convince you to ignore that little common sense voice. The least trustworthy want you to give them even more power. They want you to put more lawyers in Congress and they want you to put a lawyer in the Presidency.
If Americans really want "Change for America", I might suggest that throwing lawyers out would be a great place to start. There is no doubt that a lot of dysfunction exists in government, but the lawyers want you to believe that they are blameless.
Look more closely at the innocent grin on the fox's face, and you may detect a feather or two, caught on his whiskers. Lawyers are masters at deflection, and the deflection of blame from lawyers in Congress seems to come effortlessly and without any hint of remorse.
Lawyers have more than half the power of our Legislative branch of government. It makes absolutely no sense to hand the office we need to trust in most, the Presidency, to someone we instinctively trust the least, Barack Obama, the lawyer.
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