Norman Mailer
Nov. 13th, 2007 10:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pyesetzHe died. But before that, in 2003, he predicted the future of the United States:
In other news, the Supreme Court of New Jersey (a 'blue state') recently ruled that it is "objectively reasonable" for a police officer to cause you permanent injury during a traffic stop while forcibly removing blood from your body for a test to confirm suspected drunkenness.
In Washington DC, they've noticed that ⅓ of people who contest parking tickets are successful. In a reasonable country, that would be cause for re-examination of the ticketing process in order to reduce ticketing of people who will later be judged as innocent. In the USA, the response is to prohibit people from contesting parking tickets. You see, the problem with contested parking tickets is that they amount to an untenable claim that an authority figure (the cop) might possibly have been wrong. And since tickets do not carry the threat of jail time (unless you don't pay them), there is no constitutional right to a speedy and fair trial. Or perhaps I should say that there *had been* no constitutional right, back when the USA had a Constitution that was actually enforced by those sworn to uphold it.
In Massachusetts (where they pride themselves on being so left-wing, they actually voted against Nixon's reëlection), the City of Boston also has effectively banned the contesting of parking tickets, by imposing a non-refundable fee which is higher than the fine being contested. Once you have been (perhaps randomly) selected for a ticket, you must pay—if you're not actually guilty, well, you *should have beeen* to avoid embarrassing the police officer. Plus the income from the tickets is good money for the cities.
The dire prospect that opens, therefore, is that America is going to become a mega-banana republic where the army will have more and more importance in Americans' lives. It will be an ever greater and greater overlay on the American system. And before it is all over, democracy, noble and delicate as it is, may give way. My long experience with human nature - I'm 80 years old now - suggests that it is possible that fascism, not democracy, is the natural state.
In other news, the Supreme Court of New Jersey (a 'blue state') recently ruled that it is "objectively reasonable" for a police officer to cause you permanent injury during a traffic stop while forcibly removing blood from your body for a test to confirm suspected drunkenness.
In Washington DC, they've noticed that ⅓ of people who contest parking tickets are successful. In a reasonable country, that would be cause for re-examination of the ticketing process in order to reduce ticketing of people who will later be judged as innocent. In the USA, the response is to prohibit people from contesting parking tickets. You see, the problem with contested parking tickets is that they amount to an untenable claim that an authority figure (the cop) might possibly have been wrong. And since tickets do not carry the threat of jail time (unless you don't pay them), there is no constitutional right to a speedy and fair trial. Or perhaps I should say that there *had been* no constitutional right, back when the USA had a Constitution that was actually enforced by those sworn to uphold it.
In Massachusetts (where they pride themselves on being so left-wing, they actually voted against Nixon's reëlection), the City of Boston also has effectively banned the contesting of parking tickets, by imposing a non-refundable fee which is higher than the fine being contested. Once you have been (perhaps randomly) selected for a ticket, you must pay—if you're not actually guilty, well, you *should have beeen* to avoid embarrassing the police officer. Plus the income from the tickets is good money for the cities.
