Dead Reckoning: Innocent Until Presumed Guilty

The United States of America, a single nation or state, can in fact be accurately defined as paradoxical, or contradictory in literal terms. For independent, or divided regions, collectively merge under universal application of specified political-economic idealism. General fundamentalism is the variable of unification, of which all separate regions are to cooperatively adhere. Its theoretical reasoning…to uphold the superior interests of this all-inclusive domestic populus, in the ongoing struggle to establish a genuine, free state.

While all independent territories of this respective,western nation allegedly strive to implement administrative policies in the interest of political and economic liberty, it remains painfully perceptible that certain regions in particular are more competent than others, at least in immediate observation.

Utilizing administrative branches of legislation and judiciary, in the desire of legal symbiosis to prevail the needs of all free men, administrative agents of these self-governing sectors within the communal democratic republic state, naturally… incessantly emphasize the praxis of democracy. However all too often, it seems that righteous parliamentary procedure fails to do so, rendering its masses of working civilians abused accordingly. Residents of these independent states are the virtual lifeblood of the societal organism itself, for collectively, their intravenous taxation provides the fiscal footing upon which independent states, their united nation, and democracy itself are to stand. Revenue systems of this like, at least in rational mathematical terms, are requisite for all civilized nations, both developed and under-developed. The procedure is a socialized one, necessary for any body of people to formally persevere in the face of modern industry and the world market. However, democracy and more specifically, liberty…mandates that taxation of native inhabitants must have practical representation in order for implementation and/or persistence. Representation along these lines is idiosyncratic, for it is determined by human beings. The human element in the equation makes representation of taxation a relative examination, ever subjective to particular interpretations. This is precisely why democracy is insisted, and called upon to intervene in the interests of sensibility and libertarian order within administrative policies and the societies that are to exercise them.

In the immediate fiscal turmoil of yet another economic crisis in America, certain states are being bludgeoned by the dollar more than others. Industrially dominated, or working class sectors, seem to dominate this category. Their political and judicial leaders seek desperate measures to combat the relatively desperate times. Measures of progressive taxation are introduced, in order to sustain the societal scaffold in which all things are undeniably manipulated by the circulation of national currency. Residential employment, housing and social programs depend upon these measures. These measures of creating additional social revenue can be found in virtually all authoritative arenas of society. While revised income and sales taxation are the most predominant courses, there exist other vessels of generating essential proceeds. One of these corresponding vessels, is law enforcement. Or more specifically, portions of monetary penalties enforced upon civilians who refuse to abide by the governing laws of society…laws enforced in the interest of civilian safety and protection. The vessel itself cannot be maligned.  While there may be shame in this course of action theoretically, unfortunately such means are required to maintain order in the existing modes of production, modes which are driven by capital… the immediate, popularly embraced economic policy in America.  Should the existing modes of production continue, equally requisite must be such modes of taxation for the sake of retaining the current exchanges of commodities and value.  Thankfully, the consoling element demanded it seems… is that revised modes of taxation are to be determined democratically, with rationale reflecting and endorsing what may best resemble a  free state, despite the clear contradictions that seem to exist under more abstract examinations………

On June 2nd, 2010, one of America’s independent states has failed this idealism on essentially unprecedented terms. The state of Ohio, as ‘blue collar’ a working state there is nationally, has effectively employed the services of its own judicial branch in revising taxation while at the same time…transparently violating democratic principles that are requisite to civilian liberties. The Ohio Supreme Court, has ruled by a majority verdict of 5 to 1, that police officers “unaided visual estimation of a vehicle’s speed” is sufficient evidence to issue civilian drivers legal citations, and furthermore legal convictions. Convictions which carry already substantial pecuniary fines, yet seem to be rising well outside of proportion in terms of escalating costs of living and correspondingly…stagnating employment wages. Police department officials term the enforcement “dead reckoning”.   Based on domestic historical practice, logic dictates this new ‘presumable’ policy in determining these specific traffic violations, may soon metastasize into broader legal facets in Ohio, as well as other independent states in the body…that is America. Something does appear to be dead or dying, although it is not ‘reckoning’…

Let us hope for the sake of American citizens, that both history and logic will not substantiate this reasoning…

*-The top ten, statistically leading states issuing speeding citations:
1. Ohio
2. Pennsylvania
3. New York
4. California
5. Texas
6. Georgia
7. Virginia
8. North Carolina
9. Massachusetts
10. Connecticut

-Average number of people each day in America who receive speeding citations: 100,000

-Equally in proportion: Average number of speeding citations issued to people in America each year: 41,000,000

-Average cost of a speeding citation in America: $150.00

-Average total revenue of speeding citations in America:  Over 6 BILLION dollars a year.

 (41,000,000 citations x $150=$6,150, 000, 000)

Needless to say, after dynamically examining the numerical data pertaining to American drivers and the conforming speeding citations issued to them, the revenue generated by the necessary enforcement of very necessary legal regulations is literally…exponential. Also judging by these figures, it would seem that no additional modifications would be necessary for the now outdated, traditional means of issuing speeding citations in independent states such as Ohio, and the reasonably incontestable convictions that once resulted from them. Justice seemed to prevail, as did sensiblity…

Until the Ohio Supreme Court’s recent decision associated with these violations, these specific traffic laws were enforced by police officers with the required, corroborative assistance of reasonably CALIBRATED technology.  Sophisticated instruments in the form of manually operated radar and/or laser detection, producing miniscule margins of error, provided extremely quantifiable evidence to assist in police officers’ observations of vehicles appearing to exceed legal speed limits. While the presence of overly excessive vehicular speeds on Ohio roads and highways is relatively simple for the naked eye to observe, moderate forms of the same violation are meanwhile, virtually impossible to verify with the human ocular organ alone. Police departments’ justification and defense of the ruling on the basis of training officers to accurately “guess” the velocities of automobiles… in logical terms, considering technology readily and affordably exists to avoid probable miscalculations….is simply not deserving of serious examination.

In the state of Ohio, like other states in America, the severity of monetary penalties that accompany the misdemeanor charge against the speeding perpetrator, are based on precisely the number of miles over the legal limit the vehicle is traveling. It does not require an undergraduate degree in mathematics, nor a mentality conducive to civil rights activity…to suddenly realize the impractical implications of this newly revised policy, let alone the potentially abusive consequences for Ohio drivers at the expense of human bias.

At the risk of manifesting inappropriate stereotype, no matter…there is sufficient historical as well as immediate evidence to indicate that not all police officers are honest police officers.  Additionally, the majority of American police officers, particularly ones specializing in traffic law enforcement, are on verbal record as having unofficial quotas to fill in terms of traffic stops and therefore correspondingly… resulting driver convictions. So while it must be further noted that police officers do not have absolute performance figures to meet, it is far from an absurdity to suggest that department supervisors encourage patrolmen to double their efforts should their own figures appear to be “low”. Civilians may not be able to produce definitive evidence to confirm this conception, however police officers, subject to annual performance reviews along with the staggering numerical data presented above…implies a potential correlation.  All this being said, the element of human bias itself in all lines of work, particularly in free market economies constructed upon competition amongst workers , cannot be repudiated as utterly nonexistent.

In any event, rationally thinking individuals, apparently representative by only one member of this issue’s democratic amendment, can deduce that the ruling itself…does anything but represent pragmatism in terms of libertarian justice.

It is realistic to assume that the aforementioned Ohio Supreme Court ruling will face popular adversity in terms of public support, and potential process of judicial appeal at the hands of competent legal forces. The ruling on the basis of logic alone, cannot be categorized as a progressive amendment, regardless of divisions in political idealism or social economic classes, and should appropriately be combated. However, the heart of the matter and underlying theme which must absolutely not be overlooked or ignored in any capacity for the open-ended pursuit of a free state, is the most obvious question of all:

How is it possible for this distinct issue to even be present on the proverbial table of administrative deliberation, let alone formal enactment?

The entirely tangible, very real, immediate manifestation of such an autocratic amendment in any ration of American society must seriously question the direction and definition of contemporary democracy in the United States. The revision is not a progressive one. Instead, on the contrary…quite acute and repressive in terms of civil liberties, for the democratic mantra of the American judicial process is directly violated. How may an alleged criminal boast “innocence until proven guilty”, when the presumption of its accuser is legally adequate evidence to incriminate the respective allegation? This does not seem to be indicative of a democratic parliamentary procedure, and quite possibly, it is not intended to be.  After all, this far from trivial amendment yields potentially even more taxable profit to be made at the expense of civilian offenders. Though in this particularly revised instance, at the expense…of freedom.

*(Statistical Sources: Courtesy of Damon Dallah; TrafficTicketSecrets.com)

-Let it be directly noted and comprehended, that the author of this article is a communist, extremely capable and furthermore, compelled to struggle for the evidently threatened condition of existing western liberties.-