Texas Passes Proposition 12: Welcome to the Corporate States of America

UniversityDaily.net

As Molly Ivans explained in her September 11th column:

For 150 years, the Texas Constitution has guaranteed that every person who has suffered some sort of injury shall have remedy by due course of law. Prop. 12 limits the right to sue makers of dangerous supplements like Fen-fen, makers of unsafe tires and exploding gas tanks, polluters, drunk drivers, manufacturers of unsafe medical devices like the Dalkon Shield and corporate crooks. People like Ken Lay and Jeff Skillings of Enron, who destroyed the life savings of thousands of people, get legal protection under Prop. 12. This is the Polluters and Predators Protection Act. And it doesn't even do anything to discourage frivolous lawsuits.

Democratic Veteran points out that the bind the insurance companies find themselves in is due not to outrageous settlements, but risky investments with money that should have been set aside to handle claims. In other worlds, the insurance companies have Bill Bennetted their rates sky high, and now we are expected to lay aside our rights.

Well, Texas did, and was it close. 51% to 49%, in a race that brought out twelve percent of the electorate (only nine percent was expected to show). The people of America continue to abdicate their ruling power to the merciless greedmongers who, in the words of Molly, want to rule, not govern.

Ivans: Case Closed
Democratic Veteran: Sane Texans, you have my sympathy...