Lawyer Oligarchy Growing in the Wild West - Alcyonenews

Main menu:

Miscellany

Posted April 19, 2024

Lawyer Oligarchy Growing in the Wild West

Mid-morning on Saturday April the 13th the CBC reported that the BC Government is “disbanding the Law Society of BC (“LS”)”. I was stunned but quickly froze after realizing that they, AG Sharma and Premier Eby, are only replacing the existing LS with a larger and overall worse one. The scheme is a vote trap set to catch votes for the upcoming election which, euphemisms aside, amounts to subverting Democracy. As I will mention shortly, former Premier Horgan played the same trick on the Engineers for vote-profit. Stay tuned ...

Lee de Forest invented the “diode tube” which made possible radio, television, X-ray machines and other great things. He was living on a $12,750 p.a. stipend from “Ma-Bell” when he died in 1961. In absolute terms, he was materially comfortable but, relative to the President of Ma-Bell, he was grossly wronged because the President was pulling some 50x as much: in a sense, the President was an “oligarch”, Lee de Forest a “democrat”.

An “oligarchy” is a Part of a society separated from the Whole, set beyond the reach of Democracy, and delivered to, or usurped by a body (physical or corporate) to “govern” it, kind of “a state-within a mutilated state”. The phenomenon is more widespread than commonly recognized. The most visible oligarchies are the “Learned Professions”.

The “clan” started as a “Triad” comprising Theologues, Lawyers and Physicians. The former two are “bullies”, persons having an acute desire to prevail over others. But their trait does not help them subdue ill health. Hence they espoused the Medicos in the Triad. The latter could help the former “bully” the germs and hopefully invent an “elixir of life” to bully Hades.

As time went by, other groups became “learned” and resented being governed by the Triad. Unable to eliminate it, they resorted to self governan themselves too, thereby sparing themselves life under the Triad.

I was a member of Learned Engineering Professional Associations. This not by choice but because without being a member I could not practice Engineering. Contrary to their mandate to serve the public and their membership, they ended up controlling their members for the benefit of engineering firms. Power corrupts, indiscriminately.

Self-governing professions emulate the Clergy. The myth goes like this: the “learned” professionals are crucial to the well-being of the society and, therefore, their regulations cannot be left to the Government who ostensibly run a Democracy, it being a system geared to govern ordinary, “non learned”, humans. It is all nonsense really. It suffices to note that truck drivers, aircraft pilots, and many other people functioning in highly potent positions are regulated by the Government. Yet, each of them may sentence to death more people in a minute than the Nine Judges of the SCC could kill in a decade – this of course prior to the Judges losing the authority to kill. This leaves no doubt that a justice system regulated by a democratic government would be a source of security for all, instead of being an object of fear and a tool to scare people, which is what it has become.

This discussion would be lame were we to leave out the “super-learned” professionals who spring out of the Law Society and make themselves into the “Judiciary”. They too are entitled to a spot in the large all-inclusive Law Association Sharma & Eby are building. They too should be fenced in the new enlarged and improved Law-Savants Corral if it goes ahead.

Being a P.Eng used to command Respect. Former Premier John Horgan diluted the Engineers’ Association by pushing in a series of “learned” members with a corresponding array of titles, such as: “Applied Science Technologist” – “Applied Science Technologist Trainee” – “Certified Technician” – “Certified Technician Trainee” – “Registered Technician Specialist” and so on. Impressive, is it not?

Categorically no! I do not advocate the “purification” of Professional Oligarchies. It is their abolition I suggest, plain and simple. The government should take seriously its duty to ensure that you and I trust the pilot who flies the plane we ride in and that the nurses who inject us, are competent.

I will close with a slip-of-the-tongue story from “truth be told” (low case original) the memoirs of the Rt Hon Beverley McLachlin a Judge who rose though the strata of the Justice pyramid to its apex and sat firm on it longer than anyone else:

“Judges have to be independent and impartial. That is why they have good salaries and cannot be removed by politicians.”

This I find hard to take in a society where countless people do an honest day’s work, without being compensated extra for being “ethical”, or for not being crooked, if you will.

Au revoir for now and please ponder this.