Adventures in Illinois Law: A Meeting with the State’s Attorney
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By: Shane Radliff
August 18th, 2015
Anytime someone drives on the government monopolized roads, they risk arbitrary, coercive traffic stops by the road pirate police extortionists. Most traffic stops are for victimless crimes and oftentimes, they outright abuse the precautionary principle. These potentially violent encounters are deceptively labeled under the guise of “public safety” or the “common good”, but the real reason is extortion.
Last month, I was pulled over on the way to work for expired registration and was slammed with another citation for driving without insurance, since I didn’t provide sufficient proof. Since the latter citation was a misdemeanor, I was ordered to appear in court today.
Prior to the court date, I had looked through the Illinois Compiled Statutes and discovered that the driving without insurance charge would be dropped as soon as I provided proof that I was insured at the time. For the expired registration citation, the ILCS is pretty vague and listed no fine associated with it. I sincerely hoped that I would not have to pay another fine, in addition to the late registration fee.
It was time to enter the belly of the beast, known as the McLean County Law and (IN)justice Center, and see what those who imagine themselves to be my rulers, will extort from me this time.
Inside the Belly of the Beast…
I’d like to mention in passing that this will be my third time in the McLean County Law and (IN)justice Center in just three months, so you can only imagine how familiar I am with this building.
I woke up today, quite pissed off, and began my journey to Downtown Bloomington. I arrived an hour early and waited in the parking garage until 8:30am, when I had to call the Van Buren County Government in Michigan to pay for the other ticket that I received on my way to the Midwest Peace and Liberty Fest III. If you experienced what I did today, you would hate the State with the same vehement passion that I do. Granted, it was for minor infractions, but it was pure extortion nonetheless, and I was forced to miss my very first higher level indoctrination class of the semester (coincidentally enough, I missed American Government and Politics).
I walked into the building at 8:45am, went through the metal detectors, and headed up to courtroom 3B. I checked in with the statist employee and he instructed me to head into the courtroom.
The State’s Attorney entered at the same time as me, and the running of citizens through the gauntlet of statism ensued.
I witnessed a few speeding tickets for drivers under the age of 18, arbitrary paperwork violations, and a couple of people only coming in to prove that they were insured at the time of the extortionist encounter. It was extremely dull, as this was just basic traffic court.
Surprisingly, the government was on time, for the first time in the history of humanity, and I was called up to speak with the State’s Attorney at 9:00am.
She looked over the tickets and I showed her proof that I was insured at the time of the encounter, and they dismissed that ticket. I also provided her the proof that the day after I was pulled over, I went and got my registration renewed. I kissed ass and told her that I work full-time and go to school, and that I had just simply forgotten about it… and apologized “sincerely”—luckily she dismissed that one too, thanked me for coming in (as if I had a choice), and told me I was good to go.
No additional fines. No court fees. And both citations off of my record.
I won this battle with the State, but it was certainly a nuisance. Additionally, I didn’t enjoy being there for a case that involved me. In my previous trips, I was either serving on a jury or just voluntarily spectating, and that was a completely different experience.
Hopefully, I never have to enter a government building again, but I know that’s a naïve thought. After I completed my political fields trips (or, at least I thought I did), I was so done with every facet of government, and I was overjoyed to have had those completed and the articles up on my experiences.
Barring any unfortunate circumstances in the future, I can now say that the Adventures in Illinois Law series is completed and now I can focus on collaborating with other voluntaryists, anarchists, and libertarians, and start finding solutions using the economic means.
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