Grist for the legal mill.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.

TO SAY we are a litigious nation is an understatement. Much of this is caused by the malaise, perhaps terminal, of "victimitis." We live in a society that accepts less and less personal responsibility, having been convinced by social do-gooders that when something bad happens to someone it is not his or her fault. Thus, most see themselves as victims, never perpetrators. Minorities, women, the homeless, the unemployed, drug addicts, criminal gangs, homosexuals afflicted with AIDS--all have bought the notion that they are victims.

The perpetrators, of course, are white men, the middle class, big business, the Jews, or any convenient scapegoat. As a result, Americans constantly are seeking redress through lawsuits, for today, nearly everyone is at the other person's throat. Umbrage is taken at everything, and lawsuit after lawsuit is field or threatened. The fact is, anyone can be sued for just about anything at any given time. In short, suing has become a way of life. As attorneys say, "the person who sues my client is my friend." As the cynical story goes, when a town has only one lawyer, he or she is poor; when there are two, both are rich. Lawsuits range from the silly to the serious. Many times, a defendant settles even though not guilty because the legal costs of the case would be prohibitive.

Inconsequential disputes

The courts are so flooded with inconsequential disputes that they scarcely can find time to get to the serious ones. An example is the recent effort by a young woman, Sharon Faulkner, to gain regular standing in classes at the all-male Citadel military academy, yet be granted special privileges such as not having her hair shorn.

Another is the legal action being taken against the Post Office by Eastern Shoshone Indians, who maintain that the new Sacajawea stamp misspells the name of the Lewis and Clark guide and gives the wrong birth and death dates. The evidence is compelling that the death date is correct; she did not live to be an old woman as her Shoshone Reservation gravestone claims, and is not even buried there. Even if an error had been made, what harm would it have done?

Other cause-driven cases usurp precious court time. The challenges of atheists and gays against the Boy Scouts are examples, as are the seemingly endless suits stemming from Title IX granting of equal time to women in sports in academe. As with all these "resentment" (dare I say "jealousy"?) suits, it is one thing to test the waters, but quite...