American Generosity vs. John Edwards
John Edwards, in an interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com, said Jesus would be most upset with the selfishness of Americans.
That's interesting, considering Edwards made his fortune as a personal injury lawyer.
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Before entering politics, Edwards was a personal injury trial attorney. He represented families and children, and specialized in corporate negligence and medical malpractice claims. Edwards made his personal fortune through his trial successes and his 2003 financial disclosure forms showed a total net worth between $12.8 and $60 million. Edwards was criticized for paying himself mostly through subchapter S corporate dividends, rather than a salary, to take advantage of a tax-law loophole that allowed him to avoid paying $591,000 in Medicare taxes; Edwards claimed that he chose the subchapter S structure to protect his assets from liability. Edwards' first important case was a 1984 medical malpractice lawsuit. In that case, Edwards won a $3.7 million verdict on behalf of his client who suffered permanent brain and nerve damage after a doctor prescribed a drug overdose of anti-alcoholism drug Antabuse. In 1985, Edwards obtained a $5.75 million settlement in a cerebral palsy case for medical malpractice during childbirth, representing Jennifer Campbell, a five-year-old cerebral palsy patient. This established the North Carolina precedent of physician and hospital liability for failing to determine if the patient understood risks of a particular procedure. During the trial, it has been argued that Edwards relied more on his verbal skills as a trial lawyer than on actual science. While delivering his summary, Edwards said that "I have to tell you right now – I didn't plan to talk about this – right now I feel her [Jennifer], I feel her presence...[Jennifer's] inside me and she's talking to you." |
As for the selfishness of Americans, I think Edwards should look in the mirror. In fact, American citizens are among the most generous in the world. I covered this topic when I wrote about Arthur Brooks' book Who Really Cares.
John Stossel also writes about the generosity of Americans and Brooks' book.
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Americans' preference for voluntary contributions over forced giving through government is one way in which Americans differ from other people. (Don't think it's forced? See what happens if you don't pay your taxes.) Syracuse University professor Arthur Brooks's new book, "Who Really Cares", points out that Americans give more than the citizens of any other country. Individually, Americans give seven times more money than people in Germany and 14 times more than Italians give. We also volunteer more. |
But this is all in Edwards' nature as an ambulance chaser. Ignore the facts, employ folk Marxism and play the part of the hero of the oppressed.