The Chris Moeller Archives

When Republicans do good

Iowa Governer Terry Branstad has made my happy list for once. He's teaming with the ACLU of Iowa to oppose the use of speed cameras on Iowa roadways. This summer, the city of Des Moines installed cameras on the McVicar Freeway, the major thoroughfare through town.

The ACLU delivered a petition to the statehouse Wednesday containing the signatures of 10,000 Iowans opposed to the red-light or speed cameras. Twenty-four House Republicans introduced legislation also in opposition. Branstad's comments indicate that he sees the original and obvious motivation behind the use of these cameras-- and it's not public safety. It's raising money for municipalities. The governor himself was clocked for speeding by a camera in Arizona this summer, and says he was fined $200 for driving 10 miles over the speed limit. He experienced the feeling of powerlessness that comes with not being able to face one's accuser.

I oppose the use of speed cameras for reasons of distrust, and what I consider to be an unhealthy, unproductive, and unconstitutional overreach by the police state. I oppose speed limits in general for reasons of capriciousness, and because I consider it to be a regressive tax.

Des Moines' enforcement policies betray the typical hypocrisy at work: The posted speed limit through town on the McVicar (I-235) is 60 mph, but drivers won't face a fine (by official declaration!) unless they're clocked by the camera at 70 mph or more.

No, see, the speed limit is 60. You should get fined for exceeding 60, not 70. Oh, but wait, everybody and his monkey drives over 60. The posted maximum speed is considered now, by the reality of the American road, to be the speed minimum. And if nobody obeys the law, and the law is not enforced, why does the law exist? The people have spoken with their right foot.

What we have today instead, with our traffic speed laws, is a system of graft. We have all heard about-- and even experienced ourselves-- the small town and neighborhood "speed traps." Eighty percent of drivers or more roll through the area exceeding the speed limit because they drive cars that have been manufactured to, with ease, reach speeds that are sometimes almost double the highest legal speed. Only a fraction of drivers are pulled over-- chosen by whatever physical characteristics a law officer's personal prejudices may dictate-- and those charged persons face fines usually in the triple digits, and the amount is never based on the driver's personal income. That's why it has to be considered a regressive tax when people with less money face a more impactful penalty.

Des Moines' Robot Police along I-235, and at shifting intersections throughout the city, have collected more than $400,000 in fines over just the first two months of camera enforcement, and that's the net amount for the city coffers after the subtraction of almost a third of the collected fines to the contracted camera company. Both entities are getting fat through our pocketbooks. Speed "offenders" with lots of cash stored away at home continue speeding with little disincentive. Now, who uses that freeway the most? People who work.

Enough with the sin taxes. You can see that I'm very much a libertarian on this, as I am on all social issues that I can think of right now. You pass more laws, you get more criminals, then you need more police.

Is your town broke? Need an influx of ready cash? Then start taxing rich people again! More! Lots more! Rich people have money! And recently, they've been allowed to keep more of it than at any time in our nation's history!

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Here's another Republican suddenly occupying the happy list-- Haley Barbour. The outgoing governor of Mississippi broke with his party's long-avowed "law and order" political mandate and pardoned almost 200 prisoners on his way out of office, in action that not only releases them to freedom, but restores their voting rights. Quick, what do you call 200 Americans being pardoned and let out of prison? I call it a good start.

Our country, 'tis of thee, comprises 5% of the world's overall population, but nearly one of every four prisoners throughout the world is imprisoned here. Prisons in the United States are a for-profit industry-- big business, in fact. Prisons are one of the few things we actually still manufacture. A wildly-disproportionate number of the imprisoned are young African-American men, and we get to work quickly putting them to labor when they're behind bars. Holy shit, we've found a nuanced way to keep slavery alive. Even when they're released, they've been disenfranchised of their voting rights for the rest of their lives if they've been convicted of a felony.

Barbour went further still, by releasing not only non-violent offenders, but even some convicted murderers. For decades, even before Barbour, there have been pardoned murderers on the staff at the Mississippi governor's mansion. Says Barbour, who kept the tradition alive, "In my time, all but one of them have been murderers, because the experts say that those are the people who are the least likely to commit another crime, and that they are the ones who will serve best. I’ve found that to be the case." I love it!

A towering American political figure named Eugene Debs was cheered by his fellow inmates when he arrived at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta in 1918, having been found guilty of violating the Espionage Act because of his opposition to U.S. entry into World War I. Debs famously said at his sentencing, "Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up my mind that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in it, and while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free."

Cheers to Haley Barbour, a man I rarely agree with, for demonstrating humanitarian action that can be a model for other chief executives, state and federal. Another Republican governor, George Ryan of Illinois, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize after he abolished the death penalty in his state in 2005. I believe Barbour's actions make him worthy of the same.

posted by CM @ 7:39 PM