Reply to How can any woman vote for Romney/Ryan?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"He hasn't been supportive of additional laws that aim, misguidedly in my view, to achieve equal pay. That's not the same thing about being against equal pay."

NP here. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which has been the focal point of this debate for the last few years, "amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stating that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new discriminatory paycheck." You can read more on its wiki page, but the point is the law doesn't "aim to achieve equal pay." Rather, it aims to give women more time to file a lawsuit when they discover they are being discriminated against. Many Republicans opposed the bill.

The usual argument for that opposition - at least as stated by McCain, if I remember correctly -  is that there would be a flood of lawsuits. If that's true, it would be because (A) a lot of women are being discriminated against and/or (B) women are just super litigious and enjoy filing frivolous lawsuits. If it's (A), then shouldn't they have the chance to sue? If it's (B), shouldn't judges/juries who hear the facts of each case be the ones to decide whether it has merit? How can lawmakers know ahead of time that all these women will by filing frivolous lawsuits? 
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This goes to a fundamental difference in my and your view about the role of government and laws. I do not believe all ills should be addressed by government or litigation. I'm not worried about frivolous lawsuits but I do believe (a) that making it more costly to employers to hire women makes them less likely to do so and (b) more fundamentally, that it isn't government's role to force an employer to provide equal pay for equal work. Equal pay is the smart thing to do economically because you get the best workers and it is the right thing to do morally. That doesn't mean it should be enforced by law. 
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