I know somebody who got a fine he couldn’t pay for burning garbage illegally. (You can burn yard waste but no paper or cardboard and any plastic including a Walmart bag, is a CRIMINAL offense.) To force payment they take away your driver’s license until you pay. He lost his job and then his wife and then his house. He’s on all kinds of help now.
Incidentally, this county has two self-funded EPA’s, one for the county and one for the city. These people have a staff who spend their day writing fines to pay their own salary. In order to write enough fines to pay their salaries they have lots of regulations. Things you wouldn’t think twice about will net them $250 and a potential criminal arrest for you. But the good news is you can attend an early offender intervention program, pay the fines and $1500 for the program and the criminal part of the arrest will be erased from your record.
I saw a recent internet meme which showed a cop car from the USA contrasted with a cop car from Europe.
European cop car: brightly colored. It screams “COP CAR!” If you need help, you see it, flag it down, and the cop helps you. Visibility is important for this to work.
American cop car: totally secret. Looks like any car on the road. They drive around and pounce on unsuspecting citizens who have violated one of the 10 million regulations, they extract some revenue from the citizen and then they continue on their way, looking for fresh victims.
“Incidentally, this county has two self-funded EPA’s, one for the county and one for the city.”
We have people here in Boulder County, Colorado that count Prairie Dogs for a living.
What State is that in? That poor guy’s story could be made into a movie.
I notice I no longer hear very much or read much about “all the great freedoms” we enjoy in America. Ten years ago if I posted something to the effect that this is NOT a free country there were plenty on FR who were eager to set me straight. Not so now. Of course my attitude is that we have never been truly free but we were a lot less oppressed a few decades ago. I think there are only a precious few who could handle true freedom.