Letter to the Editor by Susan Long of Canyon County
A high-profile case was decided yesterday in Boise. Big City Coffee won their suit against Boise State University and will be awarded a few million dollars.
The reason I’m bringing it up is to address a defeatist, unintelligent comment I’ve seen repeated several times in response to the news.
The comment is that the burden for payment of that judgement will fall on the taxpayer, because BSU is a public university.
Is that supposed to mean that government funded entities should be exempt from being sued?
Or is it simply a lamentation that all taxation is theft?
It’s a meaningless response either way.
Suing in court is an excellent mechanism, theoretically, for attempting to right wrongs. It’s probably underused, is my guess, and that’s because the process is scary, unpleasant, and expensive. I’d be willing to bet that too few people sue government entities in particular out of fear of retaliation and also because they fear that the system is fixed.
So when someone does sue and they win, I find comments about taxpayers getting stuck with the bill to be missing the mark by miles. I’d much rather see people engaged in thoughtful, nuanced debate about the merits of the case and the principles involved.
My conclusion is that the response, “but the tax payer is the one who will foot the bill” is the result of Stockholm Syndrome. Or else it’s just whining in the wrong place, at the wrong time.
