Bonus question: In countries that are still exempt from highway police robbery such as in Europe, what can we do to avoid gliding towards it? Isn't HPR a natural evolution of the increased number of police agents after massive terrorist attacks, like the two we've just had in France?
Over the last few decades the American people have been conned into this idea that government is fundamentally too big and needs to be shrunk because of reasons. People save a few measly percentage points on taxes that help pay for the axle damage on their car after being driven over roads that are no longer repaired.
Municipalities had to find ways to recoup costs from slashed state and federal budgets, which is why there is such a big problem in poor, mostly black American cities, as people are pulled over and fined up the ass for every possible infraction just so the city can afford itself.
This kind of crap has nothing to do with terrorism and everything to do with fiscal irresponsibility.
So police departments are largely participating in highway robbery because it's the only way they can get by? They're not spending it on margarita machines [1] or trips to Hawaii?
More like the municipalities in general. That's why in many parts of rural America you'll find a cop at every other speed limit change, waiting for someone to notice the sign too late, catching people who don't necessary live in the area but unwillingly contribute to the local economy.
Other than every month in my home state of Kansas. Of course, that is related to much larger issues, but the same thing could be said for a number of other states in the midwest to a lesser degree. And those that aren't going down, are just treading water by pushing the costs down to the local governments.
The federal government slashed transportation budgets like two months ago which reduced my city's municipal transit budget by $300,000. Routes are being reduced at a time that high housing costs are moving people further out from the city center.
Just as important, make sure that local governments are funded adequately from higher levels. Completely deferring tax collection from central government to local municipalities creates a distribution problem where poor areas cannot collect enough funds to maintain the same standard as wealthy areas, which causes poor areas to deteriorate even further.
Don't fall for the trap of believing civil rights and due process are something only law-abiding citizens deserve. At this point in America enough people think that if you're accused of a crime basically from that point forward any "rights" you may enjoy are solely at the indulgence of society / the criminal justice system and can be (and, often, should be) taken away at any time. Unless it's really obvious you're innocent, it's game over, and even then any abuses will be written off as honest mistakes (or, in the worst case, a few bad apples) instead of symptoms of systemic injustice.
It also doesn't help that the public defender system in the States is a fucking joke. So don't do that, either.
> At this point in America enough people think that if you're accused of a crime basically from that point forward any "rights" you may enjoy are solely at the indulgence of society / the criminal justice system
I don't actually know any individuals in the US that believe this - the problem is that our government is so far out of our reach these days we can't effect significant change by simply voting for one of the two similar parties.
I can think of a few Senators. Right now the federal government claims the right to detain American citizens on American soil indefinitely and without trial. Look up 2012 NDAA Section 1021. The Senate is debating, right now, whether to add an amendment to this year's NDAA to restrict this somewhat, but even the Senator proposing this amendment (Mike Lee of UT) will tell you that there are circumstances where the government needs to detain American citizens indefinitely and without trial i.e. without due process. He just wants to restrict the current practice somewhat.
I'm glad you don't know anyone like this, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.
Extricate yourselves from the EU, which desperately wants to become a single central government and will relentlessly pull in that direction as long it is allowed to exist, and go back to smaller, more manageable units of government.
Isn't a big federation required if we want to have any weight in negotiation against the USA? I mean all small lonely countries of the world are merly more than banana republics. But I retain your point.
