KkindFeb 24, 2023
Qasim Rashid, Esq.

America’s legal system today

I want to practice law:
—You need a 4 year Bachelors, take the LSAT, then a 3 year JD, then pass the BAR, buy malpractice insurance, & total cost is ~$300K

I want to enforce the law:
—Here’s paid 13-week training & a gun

I want to write the law:
—No qualifications needed and a billionaire can buy you a seat

Feb 23, 2023 at 5:49pmMastodon for iOS
Show threadAdam GurriFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid @paulgowder low barriers to entry to street level bureaucracy and politic is good, actually. Runaway credentialism is bad, actually :)
Show threadExtinction (our fate)Feb 23, 2023
@adamgurri @QasimRashid @paulgowder Police are not the kind of "street level bureaucracy" that are "good." We should be spending more time training cops, and less money educating lawyers.
Show threadAdam GurriFeb 23, 2023
@aka_quant_noir @QasimRashid @paulgowder I agree we should have high professional standards for police (I even wrote about it https://www.liberalcurrents.com/liberal-democracy-and-the-federal-system/) I definitely agree with your calculus of who should be getting more relative training lol
Liberal Democracy and the Federal System

The American federal system and the various Supreme Courts that have defended its boundaries impose firm limitations on what system-wide reforms are possible. To many it seems impossible to make any meaningful improvement to American governance without amending the Constitution, something that requires a massive supermajority. But American federalism need

Liberal Currents
Show threadExtinction (our fate)Feb 23, 2023
@adamgurri @QasimRashid @paulgowder I'm not saying police need seven years of academic training, nor am I saying that lawyers need less than seven. I'm saying that police need more practical training than they're given and we need to be willing to both pay for that, and lay higher ethical and professional requirements on all of them. And that lawyers' educational costs are too high - to them - for what they get.
Show threadAdam GurriFeb 23, 2023
@aka_quant_noir @QasimRashid @paulgowder I think we're vehemently agreeing :)
Show threadExtinction (our fate)Feb 23, 2023
@adamgurri @QasimRashid @paulgowder Possibly? lol
Show threadOpenDNA⚙️Feb 24, 2023

@aka_quant_noir @adamgurri @QasimRashid @paulgowder I disagree. US police are over-trained and the problems of US policing are made worse by training. The most effective fast reform would be to break up police forces into task units and change tactics. We don't need gang enforcement SWAT veterans training highway patrol.

Background: FLETC grad & former LEO living abroad for >10yrs

Show threadAmy (she/her/hers)Feb 23, 2023
@adamgurri @QasimRashid @paulgowder when it comes to those who are supposed to serve the community in critical positions, credentials are indeed actually important
Show threadAdam GurriFeb 23, 2023
@amyipdev @QasimRashid @paulgowder professional standards matter. Credential inflation is bad. The lawyer example is a case of credential inflation to an absurd degree. Cops in America definitely need higher professional standards. Politics on the other hand should draw on a broader socioeconomic slice than it currently does.
Show threadLeftist LawyerFeb 23, 2023

@adamgurri @amyipdev @QasimRashid @paulgowder Respectfully, you have no idea what you’re talking about. Even with your alleged “credential inflation” the adversarial system in the U.S. presents a byzantine nightmare of professional liability that even most “credential inflated” attorneys struggle to abide and understand.

Thanks, in large part to non-credentialed “lawmakers”

Show threadAdam GurriFeb 23, 2023

@LeftistLawyer @amyipdev @QasimRashid @paulgowder Respectfully, it's precisely the law community, a credentialed class, that loves to turn law into a byzantine technical problem and screams bloody murder whenever someone tries to bring it into the domain of politics.

With the same amount of respect: are you aware of how many lawmakers have law degrees lol

Show threadAmy (she/her/hers)Feb 23, 2023
@adamgurri @LeftistLawyer @QasimRashid @paulgowder true
Show threadAmy (she/her/hers)Feb 23, 2023
@adamgurri @QasimRashid @paulgowder first one I somewhat agree, second one agree to the extent of, I dont support continuing the current policing system but whatever enforcement system I would support the redevelopment of does need higher standards, and yes while politics should draw on a broader basis, those tasked with implementation should have higher qualifications *as long as* they are in *reality*, not just in *theory*, below the populace (mass line)
Show threadAdam GurriFeb 23, 2023
@amyipdev @QasimRashid @paulgowder I think the civil service model of civil law countries that actually do this well is good to emulate (perhaps not so much for cops, which I do agree should have a higher bar because of the use of force). I also like that in those countries even judges are civil service jobs, no law degree required.
Show threadPaul GowderFeb 23, 2023
@adamgurri @QasimRashid it would be pretty nice if cops had some kind of training beyond "the world is SCARY shoot it all!!" tho
Show threadCharlotte HunterFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid This checks out.
Show threadMark W. Gabby-Li 🐌Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid
I want to make use of the law as a citizen:
—LOL sorry you can't, all your contracts with companies have binding arbitration clauses.
Show threadLOLRH1 🇺🇲🇺🇦Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid
Show thread[email protected]❌👑Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Too true! MT MAGA GOP supermajority definitely proves this.
Show threadJoe ❌👑Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Mostly right, but the people who get into office because a billionaire bought their seat don't know how to write laws, so they introduce legislation that was written by lawyers who work for lobbyists. At the state level, ALEC will work with GOP legislators to give them pre-written bills that enact right wing fantasies.
Show threadMike FraserFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid But now you get to charge your clients $150.00 to send a fax and $40.00 for a paperclip.
Show threadMike WelchFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid That pretty much sums it up.
Show threadAviva GaryFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Basically
Show threadStu Duerson, machina exo deusFeb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid
The problem with Congress runs deeper than that. A Rep/Senator depends on their staff for policy formulation, for the most part, and one must look at where they come from.

Perhaps, if we find the DNA from one of the last citizen statesmen, before they went extinct, we can clone some more. Oh, and the dodo, too.

Show threadBig WorkerFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid we should really let people take the bar after majoring in law in undergrad
Show threadStefan SchollFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Most of our representatives in Germany are lawyers. And they can't do math.
Show threadSteven CapobiancoFeb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid I think of our modern political landscape as a get-rich-quick scheme.

“Hey, wanna make some quick millions? Become a politician and do jack all and take in that dough.”

Show threadGoodGoogleyGoogelyFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid the fundamental reason American meritocracy is a myth.
Show threadMarshal GrouchyFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid I understand where you're coming from & we have a lot of unqualified members in the 'People's' house including dentists, doctors and yikes Mormons. But a law degree does not appear to guarantee either rationality or intellectual prowess.
Show threadKevin RussellFeb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid

You cant write a law. We write laws. That isn't the problem, billionaires buying politicians and Parties, is a problem, is the problem

Implying laws written through the democratic process are bad, isnt what you intended, but its not praise.

Show threadLily StarFeb 23, 2023
@kevinrns @QasimRashid #EndBillionaires they are a national security risk.
Show threadKevin RussellFeb 23, 2023

@starlily @QasimRashid

I LOVE THEM. I would make every one a multi-millionaire, no waiting, no questions asked.

Show threadOR Wine WomanFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid
😤
Show threadLot⁴⁹Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Yet another reason to tinker with/throw out the current Constitution. It was written at a time when there were no police forces by lawyers who became lawyers by apprenticing to lawyers.
Show threadPartly Peaceful ChrisFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid 👏👏👏 spot on!
Show threadBisonopolis Food CourtFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Not only will the billionaire buy you the seat, he will often write the legislation for you! You just need to vote to enact it.
Show threadArmy GirlFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid perfect
Show threadDoug Baker - Elbows Up! 🇨🇦Feb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid #3 there- only on #SCOTUS
Show threadPetrônio CândidoFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid This is the same worldwide...
Show threadLassielmrFeb 23, 2023
@petroniocandido @QasimRashid the cost is not the same.
Show threadThomas H Jones IIFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid And yet you still end up with utter clowns as well known lawyers.
Show threadcowvinFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid Don't forget that there are apparently no requirements to be a judge either. Look at Trump's unqualified appointees.
Show threadAmadi LovelaceFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid and our court system is 2 squirrels, a rabid possum and a one winged urban pigeon in a stolen housecoat.
Show threadDavid A. DuttonFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid that's definitely a very problematic system
Show threadClara ListensprechenFeb 23, 2023
Lotsa luck with that.
Show threadLenaFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid That's about it, horrific, isn't it?
Show threadCamp Lejeune Fan AcctFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid choosing any other profession besides these three would be a better use of your time, just my two cents
Show threadjonathanpetersonFeb 23, 2023

@QasimRashid damn. when you put it THAT way...

we're fucking DOOMED.
😂

Show threadInvestorswanFeb 23, 2023
@QasimRashid I want to enforce my opinions and beliefs in the name of law and constitution!
WHO AM I?
Conservative bench on SCOTUS
Show threadSuz KorbelFeb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid this is SO good!
Show threadNatalieFeb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid You got it.
Show threadBritish Tech GuruFeb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid Time was you trained on the job to be a lawyer. Same for nursing. The path to all degree entry seems to me to be ludicrous.
Show threadSouthern LeftistFeb 24, 2023

@QasimRashid
Limit donations from corps.

Repubs wanna "deregulate" everything for "growth" (aka more money for rich "people".)

More campaign transparency, less chance of corporatist oligarchs being installed in our liberal democracy-republic.

Show threadHalf Cocked LawFeb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid If your undergrad and legal education cost ~300k, I hope you went to a T14 or boy do I have bad news for your prospects.
Show threadAlice MarshallFeb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid most of our worst laws are written by fools who graduated from our most elite law schools.
Show threadNoah CookFeb 24, 2023

@QasimRashid also:

I want to write subregulatory guidance:
- Can you write something combining Kafka and Orwell, but with a freestyle syntax of Yoda on mescaline?

(anyone who thinks this is excessive hyperbole, please go read any issue of the Federal Register and then come back and tell me that I'm wrong)

Show threadAbe DraytonFeb 24, 2023

@QasimRashid It's a good system for ensuring that lawyers are pushed towards what earns money, rather than what helps people.

Same as all the rest of the student loan bullshit.

Show thread❤️‍🔥тrιnѕĸ 💬 ت (él/he)Feb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid looks like the same in Mexico.
Show threadRC deWinterFeb 24, 2023
@QasimRashid that’s about the size of it