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Comment by eurleif | Hacker News Reader

>(EDITOR’S NOTE: This post is about government employees stealing money the government itself has stolen, and since it’s about theft, it is a crime with a victim, namely those who put money into the parking meters.)

So this is a radical libertarian (or thereabouts) thing.

Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that. But it's worth noting that it isn't apolitical.

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Saying that the criminal justice system should grind to a halt goes well beyond the radical side of libertarianism.

Well, I took it to mean that the system should grind to a halt with as much bullshit as there is clogging it up, thereby forcing us (as a society) to choose what is really important to prosecute.

E.g., not a guy with a little baggie of weed, or a guy downloading some academic papers he isn't allowed to.

This is exactly what I was trying to say. Millions of dollars shouldn't be spent prosecuting people like Aaron. It is a waste to society in several ways.

I don't know any Libertarians that would support government employees who have stolen from parking meters. You can disagree with the meters all you want but stealing is stealing.

Yeah, I am a radical libertarian. I'm not hiding it, but this is an instance where I don't think the point I am trying to make is one that is specifically radically libertarian.

EDIT:: Which isn't to say it isn't radical, but I think several non-libertarian groups who oppose such things as the war on drugs and other victimless crimes would like to see the system grind to a halt and only important cases sought after.

My point was that non-libertarians who oppose those sorts of things probably wouldn't agree that parking meters are theft, and might be turned off by it.

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