Cop cars, and the costs of taking them home
I'm not talking about the costs if you or I decided, on the spur of the moment, to take a cop car home with us. Even though we do own them. I'm talking about a diversionary debate a government has dreamed up.
The Albuquerque city council is looking into the costs associated with APD officers who drive their police cars to and from work. And well they should. Wear and tear on the vehicles costs "taxpayers' money".
However, whether the LEOs take their official "lighted extortion units" home with them, or drive their personal vehicles to work and back, the money to pay all those costs still comes from the same place: your pocket.
You do realize that any money a "public employee" spends was originally taken out of the market in order to pay his or her salary. Right? That money wasn't earned through voluntary trade; it was coercively confiscated through "taxation", fees, licenses, fines and other governmental methods of theft. That means even if those cops are using "their own" cars, and paying for "their own" fuel, ultimately the money was taken from you. That being the case, you have a right to say how and where your money is being spent. If those who are on the dole don't like it, they can always get an honest job.
Now, if you like having your money taken this way, that is your business. Throw all your own money away in whatever way you like. Just don't demand that everyone else do the same, and then cheer when people are killed for wanting to keep their own personal property. That's not nice or honest.
Remember: anything worth doing can be done voluntarily. Without relying on coercion and force. Without adopting gangland tactics. Without needing an "Only One" class.
