Fight the Power

I just found of copy of this letter that I sent to a judge last year.

Take that, tyrants!!

*******

26 May 2006

The Honorable Deborah Hollifield
6301 Main, Suite 100
The Colony, Texas 75056

Judge Hollifield:

Enclosed is a receipt for an on-line payment of $144 for ticket #K412721.

I did not pay this fine out of any kind of respect for law in this case, or because this law in any way represents justice. I paid for the same reason that I would turn my wallet over to a thug in some dark alley: the threat of force.

There is absolutely no moral justification for applying a law like the ‘Texas Occupant Restraint Laws’ to adults, and it should be stopped immediately. This law treats adults as children. I am not a child, and the state of Texas is not my mommy. Judge Hollifield, it should not be any of the court’s business whether or not I choose to wear a seatbelt. And yet, the busy-bodies in Austin have made it the state’s business, to all our detriment.

Besides the lack of moral backing, this law drives a gross misallocation of limited law enforcement resources. In fact, while the DPS officer was giving me a ticket on a busy rush-hour highway, there was an accident just 100 yards beyond us. He was delayed in fulfilling his real duties of Service and Protection to act as a nanny and revenue collector. I would have enjoyed the irony, if it didn’t involve real hardship for someone else.

Until the legislature fixes this contemptible law, I ask that the courts stop enforcing the ‘Texas Occupant Restraint Laws’ for adults. This law is a petty tyranny that makes a mockery of the Texas judicial system.

Sincerely,

Trey


CC: Representative Brian McCall
Senator Florence Shapiro