Enemies of the State

Driving on a four lane highway today, and there's a state parked in the U-Turn spot that only THEY are allowed to use. Traffic is thick, and it slows when it approaches the patrol, then speeds up when we drive past him. The patrol car was encouraging gridlock and had no chance of catching a speeder in his ridiculous net.

Yet he was out there because they have a certain quota of tickets to meet, because they don't receive adequate funding from the state. Is any one else terrified that law enforcement can have a quota? Salesman have a quota, factory workers have a quota, police officers catch criminals.

What if they applied the quota system to crimes other than speeding? What if, every day, a cop had to catch a minimum number of rapes and burglars and wife hitting bastards? Well, that's impossible, so they'd have to invent the crimes and frame people.

Speeding tickets, on the other hand, do not require framing. Everyone speeds. Everyone. The speed limit is a law that, in theory, reduces our energy consumption nd makes the highways safer. Instead it breeds more distrust of law enforcement (at least among whites) than any other law.

In our eyes, state patrolmen aren't regular guys doing jobs; they're a breed of mutant assholes that complicate our days and levy unfair fines on us. When every citizen is a criminal watching over their shoulder, you live under tyranny.