Re: http://www.mises.org/story/2817
Jeff - two things ...1) Thank you!2) Shame on you! First. Thanks for taking a lemon and making it into lemonade. For taking the extra time and effort to write that exposee of the perpetual revenoo-in rape of the poorer people among us. Which is now increasingly vigorously applied to OUR driving age children. And for showing the police and courts using victimless crimes - legally an oxymoron - to raise cash for their own retirement funds. A conflict of interest if there ever was one.
Second, shame on you. Why? Because you're editor of one of the most erudite freedom sites in the WORLD! You should have been aware of the young man behind the following scenario. You should have knwn what to do. Instead, you walked out of the court defeated, with endless, insulting delays and payments for a non-crime. The psychological equivalent of that "bootprint on a human face" from 1984. Instead, imagine this:You went in and said you "intend" to plead guilty. You asked the judge or the prosecutor three questions and you are angrily ejected with a resounding "case dismissed!" Not only that, the next victim up said "I want what he got." And the judge had to dismiss everybody in the courtroom behind you. $20,000 LOSS.Or ... if they scheduled a trial: You got a chance to put the cop on the stand and question him for 10 minutes. After that he told all his cop buddies - "When you see [Jeff's car] run a stop sign, speed, weave, etc... leave him alone !!! It's just not worth it." Can't happen you say? The 'young man' I mentioned has been doing it for many people since the early 90's. Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?First, set aside an hour. Then, click on this link:http://www.adventuresinlegalland.com/index.php?/content/view/33/36/Then listen to the other 2 hrs.BUT LISTEN TO THAT ONE FIRST! It's the best intro. Then go back to the home page and read the articles or watch the videos there.And since you're a writer, call and interview him about it! This is the practical application of that theoretical FREEDOM that all your writers are so "dichotomized" about. No Guts No Glory! Just do it! Posted by V
Well, I see the point. I've received many messages about people who have fought and fought and won. One guy wrote me that he went to jail for four days rather than pay the fine.
The problem with this approach is that the opportunity costs are very high for this kind of activity. Time is money. At some point, you end up subsidizing the state more by giving them your time rather than just paying them upfront. The second problem is that I'm not sure what sticking it out to the end would have actually accomplished.
I'm completely amazed at the correspondence I've received on this article. I had no idea just how seemingly universal my experience was. Even people who have beaten rackets like this end up coughing up for court costs and the like. People also confirm my suspicions that most people caught up the web of state justice are wholly innocent of any real crime.
Publisher, Laissez-Faire Books