In William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, one of a group of unsavory characters makes a suggestion as to how to improve the kingdom.  He says: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.  This phrase has sparked controversy and debate ever since.  Did the “Great Bard” really mean that, or was it just a cast off line, uttered to shock and amuse the audience?  Or indeed was it something more?  Was he looking into the future?

Fast forward to 2017.  The United States has become one of the most litigious societies on the planet.  We have more lawyers per capita than virtually anywhere else in the world, but are we better for that fact?  I would say no.  Free speech, one of the cornerstones of our Constitution, is constantly threatened by battalions of lawyers willing to sue at the drop of a pin for supposedly “offensive” behavior by citizens of this country.  Where in the Constitution is the right not to be offended granted?  Where in the Constitution does it say that anyone, from anywhere, should be allowed to enter our country and remain here unmolested in so-called “sanctuary cities”?  Where does it say that we must be forced not only to accept, but embrace lifestyles or behaviors unacceptable to our personal belief system?  Please, if you can, show me.  Yet the lawyers, and organizations like the ACLU say it is so, and liberal judges are willing to back them up.

The Founding Fathers were by and large not lawyers.  They came from all walks of life, and crafted that unique document, the United States Constitution, based on the concept that all men were created equal and endowed with unalienable rights by our creator (That’s God, folks) which could not be denied by man.  We were guaranteed “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.  Then came the politicians, which are now mostly lawyers by trade or education prior to entering elective office, and everything began to come apart.

Our country was formed after a revolution against an oppressive government which imposed “taxation without representation”.  Where have we gone wrong?  Now, we are ruled mainly by faceless, unelected bureaucrats from various government agencies like the IRS, EPA, FDA etc.  Laws are passed by Congress, and signed by the President, only to be overturned by unelected judges who have been appointed to the bench for life!  Is this what the Founding Fathers intended?  I think not.

So, should we “kill all the lawyers”?  Of course not.  Not literally, at least.  However, we must strongly begin to root out their control over our daily lives.  We must stop electing them to public office.  We must eliminate the concept of “career politicians”.  We must get back to the concept of a government “Of the people, by the people, for the people”, or indeed, as Abraham Lincoln warned in his Gettysburg Address, this country will indeed perish from the earth.