Americans will reject Bush's Tort Reform
But not necessarily because
they're smart.
Although I do believe people are inherently good, I don't believe people are inherently smart. Maybe that's the simplest distinction between the left-leaning mindset and that of those on the right.
Of course, many people have the good in them chased away by some unfortunate set of circumstances. Likewise, a good education can do wonders for those otherwise prone to superstition and ignorance.
However, the U.S. education system is inadequate in some areas, two of which are science and math. Both areas, in the American school experience, are too focused on results, and not sufficiently focused on the subjects' foundations.
Melmen et al have chosen Tort Reform as 2006's domestic priority because they believe the greed of Americans, along with their suggestibility and gullibility, will make the reform an easy one to realize. But Bush's Tort Reform will fail, not because more Americans can see around Rove's BS than those who cannot. Not because the vast majority of Americans are compassionate and willing to endure a handful of frivolous lawsuits to keep a system in place that usually finds the best possible facsimile of "justice" for those who genuinely got fucked over by negligent and/or greedy bastards.
No, the reform will fail because most Americans are blind to the implications of hard statistics. They will fail to see themselves as anything but potential plaintiffs in multi-gazillion dollar lawsuits. Although the intelligent Republicans (all six of them) will point out you're more likely to end up in Michael Jackson's bed than filing a medical malpractice suit, people will, by and large, be unable to see their existence as dwarfed by even the most astronomical of odds.
