Cop Speeds Twice as Fast as the Speed Limit to Catch Speeder . . .

It is said a picture is worth 1,000 words. A video is thus priceless. Here’s one of an armed government worker who is determined to catch a “speeder” on a motorcycle doing 70 on a government road with a posted-by-the-government speed limit of 55 MPH:

The government regards driving or riding a motorcycle any faster than that (or any speed  limit) as a “crime” – never mind the absence of any harm done, which was once-upon-a-time the element that defined whether a crime had been committed. But that was a time before it became a “crime” to affront the authority of the government – which is to say, the authority of the handful of people who control the enforcement apparatus of the government. Their minions post a sign by the side of the road and it must be obeyed – because there is a sign by the side of the road. If it is not obeyed, then armed government workers are sicced on the disobedient.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

In this instance, the sign said 55. The motorcyclist was riding faster than that. He was “speeding,” in other words. Ergo – according to the logic of government – the motorcyclist must be pursued by an armed government worker, who “speeds” more than twice as fast to catch up to him.

Before he can begin the pursuit, the armed government worker has to stop and turn around – because the “criminal” was going the opposite direction. By the time the armed government worker has turned around, the “criminal” who’d caused no harm was already out of sight. So the armed government worker accelerated his vehicle to speeds well in excess of 100 MPH – as fast as 130 MPH – in order to catch up. Apparently, there is no danger to others on the road when an armed government worker drives more than twice as fast as the sign by the road says is permissible.

For miles.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Other drivers have little, if any, time to react to the speeding armed government worker; if something appeared suddenly in his path, such as a car pulling out from a side street or a kid on a bicycle trying to cross the road, some innocent person likely would have been killed.

It is very difficult to square the circle here. To understand the argument that it is necessary to drive 130 MPH to catch a “speeder” doing 70 because it is “dangerous” to drive 70 MPH when the speed limit is 55.

After awhile, the armed government worker catches up to the “speeding” motorcyclist – who ought to have taken the second or third turn off the road he was on when he had the advantage of being out of sight and disappeared. For the same reason that it is reasonable for a cat to seek refuge up a tree when it is pursued by a German shepherd.

The motorcyclist accepts that he’s caught and pulls off onto the shoulder. He does not do anything that could be construed as a “threat to officer safety.” But he has greatly affronted the authority of the armed government worker and so is subjected to what can accurately be styled police state kabuki. It is a performance ritual – imparted to American armed government workers by Israeli trainers, who employ similar tactics in their dealings with Palestinian untermenschen.

It is a new thing in America.

Like the look of armed government workers, who used to dress like Roscoe P. Coltrane as opposed to special forces “operators.” Traffic cops used to wear shirts and slacks. They carried a single sidearm, usually a .38 special revolver. Today’s “operators” wear battle dress and web gear; they carry high-capacity semi-auto pistols and sometimes two, along with multiple extra magazines.

And that’s just the beginning of the show – and tell.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Once upon a time, when traffic cops caught “speeders” and other non-criminals, they’d hand the offender a “ticket,” that piece of officialized extortion-paper that is essentially a demand note requiring the handing over of money.

There was generally not a gun-drawn Hut! Hut! Hutting!

When an operator catches up to a “speeder,” he initiates the new kabuki, screaming orders at the “speeder.” Even if there is no “resistance” – even if the “speeder” hasn’t disobeyed any of the screaming – he is ordered to get on his knees and then face-planted on the ground, as if the operator had just caught Osama bin Laden.

We have been conditioned to regard this ritual humiliation as normal – just the same as we have been conditioned to regard it as normal to be treated essentially the same way by government workers at the airport, even when we haven’t affronted the authority of the government or its workers. The point of the thing is to establish the nature of the relationship. As in Israel, if you’re not one of the chosen people.Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

It is barbarous on purpose.

Not to mention ridiculous (which is an element of the barbarous). Screaming and yelling at people when talking is all that’s necessary. Unless it is necessary to establish who’s the untermensch.

And is it necessary to drive more than twice as fast as the speed limit in order to catch (and punish) someone for driving 15 MPH faster than the speed limit?

Not if the point of the thing is “keeping us safe.”

And they ask me why I drink.     

. . .

If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos. 

The post Cop Speeds Twice as Fast as the Speed Limit to Catch Speeder . . . appeared first on EPautos - Libertarian Car Talk.