In a truly terrible tale of lawmakers gone greedy, two NY democrats are pushing for an insulting new system that aims to turn citizens on each other in order to fill their pockets while also lining those of the state of New York.

The NY Post has the details:

City Council members Helen Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) and Donovan Richards (D-Queens) will introduce a bill Wednesday that would give citizens up to 50 percent of the summons revenue if they catch someone breaking the idling law, take a video and submit it to the Department of Environmental Protection. The exact cut for videographers would be determined by the DEP, they said. But citizen enforcers could makes hundreds — even thousands — of dollars. The bill would keep first-time idling violations punishable by just a warning, but would boost fines for second offenses to between $350 and $1,500. Any subsequent violations within a two-year period would yield even heftier fines of between $440 and $2,000.

These lawmakers want to take what could amount to hundreds or thousands out of the pockets of commuters, parents, business owners and delivery drivers for the hideous crime of “idling.” This type of crackdown would seem greedy enough if they hired additional parking cops, but to turn to the populace for help is truly repulsive.

The saddest part about this is that it will likely work if passed. Many people are greedy in their own right, and those who live in areas where idling is common – busy business districts, schools, restaurant areas, etc. – will probably be able to make quite a bit of money just by snitching on their fellow man. And they will go out of their way to do so, with the state having deputized them with this new power.

Would their actions on behalf of the state be justified? Absolutely not. People can justify it to themselves by claiming they are doing a service to the environment, or that they are doing a service to the state, but at the end of the day this is simply taking a LOT of money out of people’s pockets due to a coercive state law specifically designed to massively boost revenues. A $20 ticket would be more than enough to stop people from idling, especially if there were an army of unscrupulous citizens waiting on every corner to catch idlers (and no, I’m not for this concept even at a severely reduced fine rate either). A fine for an amount between $350 and $1,500 is sheer insanity. That’s not a punishment, that’s lifestyle-altering theft of hard earned money.

Let’s also not forget the Pandora’s Box aspect of this. First NY state gives citizens the power to tattle for idling. Next it will be for noise violations, not having tags up to date, having a tail light out, not wearing a seatbelt and any number of other infractions that will have every single person in this country on a constant vigil against their neighbors.

I can also promise you there will be a rise in violence as people catch others taping them in order to steal money from their pockets and attempt to destroy the phone taping them, or simply the person holding it.

Mark my words: this has no positive outcome for anyone but the state.

And here’s a bonus Morning Roar quickie and a great counterpoint to the scumbag lawmakers in NY. From the Free Thought Project:

Monday, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II (MO-05) introduced The Fair Justice Act. The Fair Justice Act ” would make it a civil rights violation to enforce criminal or traffic laws for the purpose of raising revenue.” You read that correctly. Petty drug “offenses,” idiotic traffic laws, and other such victimless crimes could be brought to a halt with the passage of this bill. Announcing the introduction of the Fair Justice Act, Congressman Cleaver stated, “The time has come to end the practice of using law enforcement as a cash register, a practice that has impacted too many Americans and has disproportionately affected minority and low-income communities. No American should have to face arbitrary police enforcement, the sole purpose of which is to raise revenue for a town, city, or state.” While many people may not see it as such, this congressman’s bold move, if passed, would eliminate most police work. As the Free Thought Project reported Monday, the fact that police act primarily as revenue collection agents for the state, has become quite apparent.

Read more here.

Liberty Links!

– Georgia farmer gets $5K fine for growing too many veggies.

– NSA sued by Wikipedia rights group over mass surveillance.

– Ron Paul says its good news that secession movements are happening.

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