Of anarchism and traffic tickets
I. At the end of the last Drunken Philosophy meeting I gave in to a bit of political-philosophy masochism and listened to a former-libertarian-now-anarchist explain how to argue your way out of paying a traffic fine. Just ask the following series of questions—not arguments, because if you try to argue the judge can just order you to pay: Is the court obliged to prove its case against me, beyond a reasonable doubt ? - Yes. Must the court justify every point of its argument to prove the case? - Yes. Can the court use anything but facts and evidence to justify those points? - Yes. Is the court's reasoning based on the idea of jurisdiction ; that I must pay the fine because I allegedly violated a law in the jurisdiction of the court? - (with growing trepidation) Yes... Then what facts or evidence can the court provide that this "jurisdiction" actually exists ? - Bailiff! At which point the anarchist, having smugly ...