Put it all on 24 Black... Do Floridians Believe in the Right to Contract?

[Cord Byrd]

Freedom of contract is the freedom of individuals and corporations to form contracts without government restrictions.  This freedom is found within the principles of liberty imbedded within the Constitution and is the foundation of our free market economic system.  

The Florida Constitution guarantees individuals the right to have access to courts for redress of grievances.  Unfortunately not all Floridians have this right.  If you are injured in an on the job accident in Florida, Florida law forbids you from entering into a contract with a lawyer, whereby you pay the attorney's fees out of your own pocket. 

This means if Rush Limbaugh was injured at work and wanted to file a workers' compensation claim, he could not retain me as his counsel and pay me a wage that the two of us agree upon as fair for legal services.  Keep in mind there is no such restriction keeping employers and insurance companies from entering into a contract with the lawyer of their choosing and paying them an unlimited number of dollars to represent their interests.

Associated Industries of Florida, the self proclaimed "voice of Florida business since 1920,"  lobbies the Florida legislature to restrict the contract rights of injured workers.  In 2003 it helped rewrite Florida law restricting the benefits available to those injured at work.  Now all of this background brings me to my point.

Associated Industries of Florida is now promoting passage of a law that would bring "destination resorts" to Florida.  Its lobbying efforts on this front are proudly displayed on AI's web site.  A destination resort is just another euphemism for CASINO. I have nothing against casino's per se, and as a believer in state's rights if the people of Florida want to become Las Vegas then so be it.  What I find objectionable is the attempt to change the language to fool the voters instead of just stating what it is.  The left plays that game, supposed proponents of free market capitalism should not.

Lastly, I find it the height of hypocrisy that the same people who would prohibit an injured worker from contracting with an attorney to represent them in court, have no problem with that same injured worker taking their wage benefits and putting it all on 24 black at one their "destination resorts" ahem....casinos. Does anyone else see a problem with this?

If we believe in First Principles, like the Freedom of Contract,  we must fight for them everyday and for everybody, not just when they happen to conveniently fit within our limited self-interest.