Posted on 03/10/2015 7:58:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Conservatives are typically eager to disparage politicians and bureaucrats who conspire to seize wealth. So you'd think that they'd be outraged to learn that officials in one municipality treat residents as revenue sources rather than citizens. In this city, policymakers have made maximizing the intake of money their number one priority. They urge police to cite residents as aggressively as possible and evaluate their municipal court judge based on the fines that he levies. Challenges to the city's system are thwarted by a deliberately complicated thicket of rules and red tape. And violations of the Constitution are frequent and unpunished.
This city's government does not solve problems. Its government is the problem. One illustration of many concerns a poor woman who got a single parking ticket there. "From 2007 to 2014, the woman was arrested twice, spent six days in jail, and paid $550 to the court for the events stemming from this single instance of illegal parking," federal investigators report. "Court records show that she twice attempted to make partial payments of $25 and $50, but the court returned those payments, refusing to accept anything less than payment in full. One of those payments was later accepted, but only after the court’s letter rejecting payment by money order was returned as undeliverable. This woman is now making regular payments on the fine. As of December 2014, over seven years later, despite initially owing $151 fine and having already paid $550, she still owed $541."
What a burden the public sector has imposed on her life.
No city in America better illustrates government run amok than Ferguson, Missouri. Libertarians have long excoriated the city. Less so, movement conservatives. Most are ambivalent about the abuses. Some have even defended Ferguson officials. Why haven't conservatives seized this opportunity to highlight government-caused damage
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
No biggiee, the feds treat the makers as tax slaves
Where’s the liberal outcry on Obama’s abuses? Hmm??
Maybe the author hasn’t been to Chicago?
I live in one of the most liberal states, sounds like business as usual out here on the left coast.
The Atlantic is right: the situation with the massive corruption/revenue enhancement racket in Ferguson is a natural issue for Conservatives to seize upon.
The reason why we don’t is that it’s already been co-opted as a racial grievance issue by folks who are using it to actively push forward a larger agenda that runs counter to our interests.
Where’s the Democratic/Leftist (but I repeat myself) outcry on railroading Darren Wilson and George Zimmerman and the hundreds of knockout game and polar bear attacks?
Yawn.
Without looking, I’m guessing that Ferguson Missouri is run by Democrats.
Yet somehow what’s going on there is all my fault????
From The Atlantic.
The Atlantic is full of old wrecks, garbage, crabs and crap. It is also the name of an ocean.
Isn't this claim based on the "Investigations" of the Holder "Justice" Department?
I don't regard as credible anything they have to say regarding the issue of Ferguson. They went in looking for a racist scape goat, and I just assumed when they couldn't find one, they created one.
Also reading the examples mentioned in the article, I don't see them as being very different from what I've seen in the past from my own area.
Evidently Conor Friedersdorf does not read the Powerline Blog where the Ferguson fleecing of citizens was roundly criticized - or maybe Conor did read it, but his nose was out of joint because the article also pointed out how liberal-run cities such as Washington, DC and New York City are equal-opportunity offenders.
Well, Conor, if we had the slightest trust that Holder was telling anywhere near the truth about it, we would be outraged.
Maybe if your beloved Department of JustUs had ANY history of being honest and honorable about their operations, investigations, enforcement and agenda, we would take this more seriously.
Dallas toll authority had people force a law change when $3.00 toll violations would become Hundreds with their billing program. Cities are using red light cameras as income generators (tickets issued for right turn on red, etc. ). Waldo, FL just finally disbanded its police dept after decades of using its police force to be the primary feeder of the city’s coffers.
Doesn’t matter what the color of the skin, cities only care about the color of money
Remember the big voter registration drive they had in Ferguson to change their government?
As I recall they managed to register something like 140 people.
And this is what i'm thinking as well. My experience with the Atlantic is that it is mostly a liberal biased rag, and who gives a crap about what they say?
Wasn't Andrew Sullivan working for "the Atlantic"? Yeah, they don't have any credibility with me.
I’m guessing this woman didn’t bother to pay the ticket in the first place which led to her arrest and increase in fines.
Interesting. The author lives in “toney” (I hate that word) Venice, California, not in crime-riddled Ferguson/St. Louis.
It’s nice to talk the talk, but how about walking the walk and move there, Connor?
You’d last about 30 minutes. There are more Michael Brown’s out there than you want to acknowledge.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.