Police, Lawyer, and Doctor Shows

Even before I cracked my pro-State brainwashing, I always thought that shows like "ER" or "Law and Order" were kind of stupid. Now, I understand that they are evil fnords. TV shows that glorify policemen, lawyers, and doctors are State propaganda.

Doctors earn way-above-market salaries, due to the AMA licensing cartel. The State artificially restricts the supply of doctors, driving up prices. A typical doctor does not perform heroic acts like those on TV. Due to State bureaucracy, a doctor actually spends most of his time filling out paperwork. Some doctors complain that they spend more time on insurance forms than with patients. When I was involuntarily hospitalized, the psychiatrist met with each patient for at most 1-2 minutes per day. The psychiatrist spent the rest of the day filling out paperwork.

The salary of lawyers is pure looting and pillaging. The rules and procedures for the legal system were written by lawyers. On purpose, they made the rules and procedures so complicated that a non-lawyer cannot understand them. Whenever anyone interacts with the legal system, a lawyer is required.

On those lawyer shows, the lawyer is usually heroically defending someone who is not guilty, or prosecuting someone who's a nasty criminal. A lawyer show would never show a tax evasion trial, where the defense attorney argues "The income tax is immoral!" Also, the lawyer show doesn't indicate how the victim is forced to spend his life savings on a lawyer, even though he's not guilty. On the lawyer show, if the defendant is poor, then the lawyer usually agrees to defend him for free ("pro bono"). Most poor criminal defendants are forced to use overworked public defenders.

A lot of lawyers work for corporations or as State bureaucrats. They spend most of their time preparing forms and paperwork. Only a minority of State-licensed lawyers actually argue cases in front of a judge or jury. The rules of the legal system require you to use a lawyer when preparing any contract. Otherwise, there might be a loophole that other people could exploit.

Police are the violence arm of the State. It is important to continuously present police as heroic, instead of as armed thugs. The vast majority of police spend their time on boring routine stuff, or on enforcing illegitimate laws. It's very rare that a policeman gets the opportunity to heroically help someone. Whenever a policeman does do something good, the mainstream media loudly says "This policeman did something good! Therefore, all policemen are saints!"

A lot of people aspire to be doctors. Once you get a State doctor license, it's a guarantee of a high-paying job (at least until the State collapses). Getting a State doctor license takes 10+ years and $500k+, making a career as a doctor inaccessible to most poor people. (However, lending money to a medical students is very lucrative. They're guaranteed a high-paying job after they get their license.)

Another problem is that some people go through medical school training, only to discover that they don't want to work as a doctor. That's unfortunate, because they already spent a fortune getting their State license. Via the sunk costs fallacy, they will keep working as a doctor. Plus, the high pay is an incentive to keep doing it, even if you don't like it.

Some doctors do the best they can, given the constraint of a corrupt system. However, none of them will explicitly say "State licensing requirements for doctors are evil!" They won't question the State, which is the source of their wealth. In a true free market, health care would be available much more cheaply, and with better quality.

Similarly, a lot of people aspire to be lawyers. If you get a law degree from a top school, that practically guarantees a high-paying job. However, lawyers from lower-ranking schools without political connections don't do as well. A lawyer degree is expensive, although not as expensive as a doctor's degree. A lot of people with law degrees work in other State jobs, rather than working directly as a lawyer. The supply of lawyers is restricted by the State, but not as severely as the supply of doctors.

Lawyers control all three branches of government. The US government is a government "for the lawyers, of the lawyers, and by the lawyers".

As a partner in a law firm, you already have a high salary. You can afford to take a few months off pursuing an election campaign, without risking your job. Even if a lawyer fails to get elected, the connections a lawyer makes when campaigning are valuable. Since the legal system is completely unrelated to productive activity, the connections of a lawyer are more important than his ability. As a slave software engineer, I can't afford to take 3+ months off my job to pursue an election; I'd lose my job. Most politicians are lawyers, because lawyers can most easily leverage a political career. A lawyer can work as a lobbyist after his term ends. Being a former politician is no help at all, if I go back to being a slave software engineer.

When the mainstream media glorifies the work of lawyers, they are praising the State. Whenever you need State violence to impose your will on others, a lawyer is required. Whenever you need to defend yourself from State violence, a lawyer is required. Lawyers intentionally arranged for the legal system to be so complicated that a lawyer is required. Long drawn-out trials benefit lawyers, who are paid hourly.

Being a policeman is a very desirable career for someone with no other useful skills. Policemen have a very strong union; politicians are very reluctant to anger the source of their power. Policeman don't get paid that much, but it's a good job for someone who doesn't know anything useful. There's plenty of opportunities for a dishonest policeman to make extra money. For example, a policeman can take bribes from drug dealers to ignore them. Actually, such a policeman is actually behaving honestly, because the laws criminalizing certain drugs are immoral.

Police, lawyers, and doctors earn huge salaries due to State violence. It is necessary to continuously present them as heroic, lest people become aware of the scam.