Robin Hood may have been a fictional character, but the thing that drove him and his “Merry Men” to become outlaws was real enough:
Oppressive laws.
Specifically, oppressive taxes.
At every turn, the Sheriff of Nottingham and his not-so-merry men would demand their pound of flesh. The only way Robin and his men could survive was to forget the law – and live outside the law.
It was an act of desperation and necessity.
This is happening again – to millions of American drivers.
None of them merry.
It starts with a ticket for a traffic offense – a pratfall that is becoming hard to avoid because of the profusion of offenses, most of them purely statutory (i.e., involving no harm to anyone) but subjecting the victim (i.e., the person waylaid by the armed government worker) to an extortionate tax. Calling it a “fine” doesn’t legitimate the taking-by-force of someone’s money who has not damaged anyone, for the benefit of the government – which is precisely what a tax is.
In California, the minimum fine/tax for failing to “buckle-up” (“failure to eat your veggies” is next) is $162 – and the fine for “improperly restraining a child under 16 is $465.
In Virginia, the fine for failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign – even if there is no reason to come to a complete stop – is $200.
In the District of Columbia, the fine/tax for warming up your car longer than three minutes – yes, really – is $1,000 for a first offense.
And “reckless” driving – defined by statute in Virginia as anything faster than 80 MPH, even on a highway with a speed limit of 70 MPH – can entail $2,500 of literal highway robbery.
These are just a few of the many. And there are usually “processing fees”…