Reply to DC giving 50 percent discount on traffic tickets to bad drivers, so long as they're poor

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Well, my family's income is well over twice what it would take to get food stamps, so it makes sense that we would pay twice as much for tickets.

If I was ever to become impoverished, and had to budget as hard as people on food stamps do, I'm pretty sure that the $100 once in a while we spend on tickets would be pretty close to most of my family's unobligated spending money for the month.  So, I don't begrudge the decrease.[/quote]

Congratulations.  You must feel very good about yourself.

Government fines and punishments should be the same for everyone.  [/quote]

I don’t know why you fail to understand that a $100 punishment is equivalent to a $1000 punishment for someone who makes 10 times more. The point is to feel the weight of the punishment. Someone who is making a million is not going to feel punished with a $100 the same way that someone making $30,000 a year. It’s like saying everyone gets 10 years in prison no matter the crime. [/quote]

I don't know why you don't understand that a government punishment should be the same for everyone.[/quote]

I do, which is why I applaud this. Punish people equally. A poor person is going to feel a $100 a lot worse than you will. So punishment achieved. You will pay it and not think anything about it. Do you always make circular arguments by simply repeating the same?[/quote]

You don't seem to know what the word "equally" means.

Equal justice under the law is an important core concept and not something we should be throwing away.[/quote]

Please enlighten us then. You think that a $100 ticket punishes a man making 30K a year equally as it does a man making 800K? [/quote]

This isn't a difficult concept.  Same crime equals same fine.  For everybody.

You are demanding equity not equality.  [/quote]

Apparently it IS a very difficult concept since you don't get it at all. If the point is punishment, then it should be felt the same way by everyone. [/quote]

Of course, you have no earthly idea how getting a ticket *feels* to different people, let alone how to equalize those feelings. [/quote]

of course I do. And I'm not even particularity smart. I know because I used to be very poor and now I'm not.

But that's one of the weakest responses I've seen on DCUM. I always find that when posters start personalizing things to me, it's because they have nothing intelligent to say to support the point they are trying to make.[/quote]

Ok, then, explain to us how you know. [/quote]

I already did. Are you capable of reading? I used to be very poor. Getting a $100 ticket would mean that two or more of my bills aren't getting paid that month. That would mean I don't eat or buy the bare necessities. A $100 for someone who makes a half a million or more is a drop in the bucket. They don't even blink and eye. So tell me who is feeling the punishment and who isn't? Both committed the same offense. [/quote]

Ok, so you don't actually know. All you have is 1. a personal anecdote and 2. A presumption about how rich people might react to getting a ticket that's not based on anything except what you think might be true. [/quote]

If you are not intelligent enough or have critical reasoning skills to understand that a person who makes below poverty line is going to be disproportionately affected by the same fine as the one making 50 times more, then you're just a moron. My personal anecdote doesn't matter. There are studies and statistics that explain all of this. Go educate yourself. [/quote]

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