Liberty Minute March 11 2014

All governments, as St. Augustine observed, begin as criminal syndicates that achieve dominance over a territory. They distinguish themselves from ordinary robber bands "not by the renouncing of aggression but by the attainment of impunity."

Few things offer a better illustration of that principle than a small-down speed trap, and the tiny town of Hampton, Florida might be the definitive case.

The criminal clique in charge of Hampton converted a 1,260-foot stretch of a busy interstate into one of the country?s most lucrative speed traps. With the revenue it acquired, the municipal government built a police force of nearly 100 officers to patrol a population of about 480 people. The cops were deployed on lawn chairs at roadside, using radar guns to harvest revenue from motorists.

 A recent municipal audit discovered that as much as $1 million in city revenue had simply disappeared. Abuse of official credit cards and cell phones was rampant. City officials were appointed on the basis of nepotism and wildly overpaid. The last mayor, Barry Lynne Moore, operated a narcotics ring with the connivance of city police until he was arrested by sheriff?s deputies.

Hampton embodied the criminal proclivities to which all political governments are prone. It should be preserved as a museum of civic iniquity.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.