I would like to take this opportunity to thank the city of Canton and Officer #206 for the birthday gift I received this year. On my first full day as a 28 year old I received a ticket charging me $30 for having expired tags.
If you couldn’t read between the lines, I’m being sarcastic.
I’m not upset that I have to pay to renew my tags; that’s something I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. I understand that the state needs to collect revenue and keep track of the number of vehicles on the road.
What bothers me about this is the idea that someone has been watching my car, which I park on the street in front of my apartment, and waiting for my birthday to pass in order to give me a ticket. This is just a little too Big Brother to give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I remember the good old days when I had until Halloween to renew my tags. Now I have one week after my birthday or face a penalty of $20.
I don’t see why officer #206 couldn’t issue me a warning. I didn’t intend to let my tags expire; I just forgot to renew them. I’ve received friendly reminders from the DMV for the past few years, but no letter arrived this year. Perhaps that is all part of the plan. If you stop sending out reminders, not only do you save money in mailing costs, you also collect extra revenue in fines from people who forget to renew.
As Americas we are oftentimes complacent and willing to look the other way to injustices until we are the victims. We know life is unfair, but we’re willing to accept that injustices happen until they happen to us.
I have been affected and am overcome with a desire to retaliate. I feel wronged and violated. At the risk of having my car towed or possible incarceration, I will not be paying that $30 fine as a representation of civil disobedience. I would have been happy to be obedient to my government, if only they had been civil.
Reply
Zachariah T Baer / Blog
Civil Disobedience
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the city of Canton and Officer #206 for the birthday gift I received this year. On my first full day as a 28 year old I received a ticket charging me $30 for having expired tags.
If you couldn’t read between the lines, I’m being sarcastic.
I’m not upset that I have to pay to renew my tags; that’s something I’ve grown accustomed to over the years. I understand that the state needs to collect revenue and keep track of the number of vehicles on the road.
What bothers me about this is the idea that someone has been watching my car, which I park on the street in front of my apartment, and waiting for my birthday to pass in order to give me a ticket. This is just a little too Big Brother to give me a warm fuzzy feeling. I remember the good old days when I had until Halloween to renew my tags. Now I have one week after my birthday or face a penalty of $20.
I don’t see why officer #206 couldn’t issue me a warning. I didn’t intend to let my tags expire; I just forgot to renew them. I’ve received friendly reminders from the DMV for the past few years, but no letter arrived this year. Perhaps that is all part of the plan. If you stop sending out reminders, not only do you save money in mailing costs, you also collect extra revenue in fines from people who forget to renew.
As Americas we are oftentimes complacent and willing to look the other way to injustices until we are the victims. We know life is unfair, but we’re willing to accept that injustices happen until they happen to us.
I have been affected and am overcome with a desire to retaliate. I feel wronged and violated. At the risk of having my car towed or possible incarceration, I will not be paying that $30 fine as a representation of civil disobedience. I would have been happy to be obedient to my government, if only they had been civil.
Reply