More than religious extremism or foreign policy utopianism, the biggest problem I have with the Republican Party is their two-pronged assault on the rule of law :

Deregulation and Tort Reform

On the surface, I can see why both of these are extremely attractive to mainstream voters. Our law-books are a contradictory jumble of rules that often ends up being counter-productive. Our courts look more and more like a lottery system when even the most minor of complaints yields a multi-million dollar reward for the plaintiff. Yes, if you listen to little more than the local news and your favorite politico, the natural conclusion is that the system is out of control and it’s costing us all billions of dollars.

But that’s not the truth. The fact is, these two planks of the GOP platform are part of an ongoing effort to weaken the laws that protect us and our environment to the benefit of various interest groups, lobbyists, and campaign contributors. Making products safe to use, responsibly disposing of hazardous waste, being well-trained enough to avoid making mistakes on the job, and countless other issues cost a lot of money. For every dollar businesses spend to comply with the law comes off the bottom line. That’s why it’s in their best interest to weaken the laws (and in the process hurt you). The Republicans are at the forefront of these efforts.

For example, take the malarkey about “tort reform”. Here was my take on this lie from a couple months ago :

Whenever people hear the word “sue”, they immediately think about the grandma who spilled coffee on herself or some imaginary case in which someone was given $100 million for having a hangnail, but they don’t step back and realize that the civil courts are an essential part of our justice system. If you’re the victim of a crime due to a corporation’s maliciousness, negligence, or greed, who are you gonna call? You can’t call 911 on a CEO and you might not have a lot of luck convincing the DA to bring up a case, but with civil courts everybody has the opportunity to have their case heard before a judge.

And let’s not get carried away with the talk of “out of control” fines. Even if they weren’t extremely rare and often pared down in higher courts, I’d still support them completely. If you’re suing a business, it’s not like you can send these guys to jail. Your only recourse is to hit them where it really hurts, the bottom line. Anyone who’s callous enough to suggest that winning a multi-million dollar judgment is “the best thing that’s ever happened” to a plaintiff, would probably never understand why someone would rather be poor than have an inoperable brain tumor, get all their intestines sucked out, etc. It may be a clich?, but it’s true. There are some things more important than money.

The same goes double for “deregulation”. For all practical purposes, there’s no difference between a regulation and a law. When a politician talks about “deregulating” something, what he really means is getting rid of the laws that 99% of the time exist for a damn good reason.

While I agree that the laws are a mess (thanks in large part to the loopholes written in by the same people who are complaining now), the idea that getting rid of the laws completely will result in greater compliance is absurd on its face. For a party that prides itself on its common sense, they seem smitten with the retarded idea that the only thing that stands in the way of corporate titans keeping the environment clean (to cite one example) are the laws that mandate the very thing they’re refusing to do. Would the Republicans be willing to apply this same standard of logic to laws that don’t excite their base or reap profits for their benefactors? Like so many Republican ideas, deregulation is yet another area in which the party of toughness is unwilling to put their money where their mouth is and make sure they write to laws in a way that will ensure the outcome they’re promising (another good example of this is the lie that cutting taxes for the rich stimulates the economy).

Worse than no-bid contracts, tax giveaways funded by our growing deficit, or the blind eye cast toward tax evasion, the worst threat by the Republicans seems to be their obsession with destroying the laws that protect us (deregulation) and the ability of the courts to enforce them (tort reform). This has nothing to do with “small government” conservatism, it’s about the continual quest for money and power. If we had a decent press corps and a candidate who was able to give and answer longer than three words without being labeled a bore or a flip-flopper, this would be the biggest issue in the election (okay, probably second to terrorism). The fact that the party in charge of our government wants to destroy the system that protects us from a vast array of threats, whether prompted by negligence or malice, is shameful.