Tomorrow, Asheville City Council will likely approve the hiring of more police officers. It’s another of those programs that put the burden of hiring police officers on the state for the first year, and gradually shift the burden to the local jurisdiction. The stated objective is to crack down on impaired driving and people who refuse bind themselves to their seats with their government straps. I say the objective is to grow the budget to empower a larger police state and further infringe liberties of people just trying to get from here to there.
The logic is that stoners who can handle their highs belong off the road, whereas disabled or weary people clearly weaving, driving with two tires in each lane, stopping and starting erratically, or performing daredevil stunts are cool for driving. Worse is the concept that leadership in local government is so stupid, it will commit to an incrementally extended budget on the premise that the economy will always expand to support it. If we were more unionized, we wouldn’t be able to lay of the surplus labor, either.
