Suing Who??

Those following the Occupy demonstrations over the past 5 months probably remember Tony Bologna – especially after the Daily Show ripped him up. He’s a ‘deputy inspector’ for the NYPD and the man who decided to pepper spray several people after other NYPD officers trapped them on a public sidewalk using an orange mesh fence.

Now, according to NYDailyNews.com:

Chelsea Elliott and Jeanne Mansfield are suing Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna in Manhattan Federal Court for blasting them in the face with pepper-spray during a protest last Sept. 24 near Union Square.

The incident was caught on video, and 1.5 million people watched it on YouTube, prompting outrage and drawing attention to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Bologna was docked 10 days of vacation for violating NYPD regulations.

In an interview Monday, Mansfield, 24, a Boston writer, said she was suing because she wanted to put the NYPD on notice that what Bologna did was wrong.

“I was attending a peaceful demonstration when I was met with what I feel was an undue amount of force,” she said.

Whether or not to sue, from an activists perspective, is subjective. I, personally, understand the reasons given for both but with the system the way it is, do what you want. What I would like to talk about is who pays when someone (or a company) is sued.

For example, if there’s a razor blade in a burger at McDonald’s and someone is harmed by this, they could sue McDonalds and McDonalds may (or should) pay them. Sure McDonald’s could add the additional expense (of paying settlements) to the cost of their burgers, essentially having the customer’s pay for it – overtime – and some people might be fine with paying more. Yet, if McDonalds kept putting, or having, razors in their burgers eventually they would go out of business. Not only because they’re paying out millions in lawsuits but also because people would stop eating at McDonalds. Either because they don’t want to eat razor blades or the cost of the burgers would be too high.

When suing a (actual) person or company, the settlement comes from the person or company. Sure, like I stated above, the cost of the lawsuits would be passed on to consumers but the consumer would still have a choice. Since no person or company can force you to pay for their service without their consent.

Now look at the police, individual police officers are RARELY sued, instead people sue the ‘City.” Which would be the same as suing McDonalds, which is fine, if the City were collecting revenue (tax) for its customers voluntarily but they don’t. They collect it from everyone regardless if you want (or like) the service they provide to you at the barrel of a gun. So, here you are with a legitimate reason to sue a company – the government – for doing harm to you. But what happens when you try to hold those in government (law enforcement) accountable by their rules, their courts and their system? You lose no matter what. Even if you “win”  you end up punishing yourself, your neighbor and millions of others you haven’t met. Since the government will, just like McDonalds would, pass the expense of the lawsuit down to the consumer, ie – taxpayer. Only difference is the government doesn’t ask you if you want to pay for the additional cost, they just expect you to because it’s what being a good citizen means.

Think about this, are you happy with how the government spends your money? Have you ever thought, “why do I let them take MY money? I wouldn’t let a stranger take MY money, even if they threatened to jail me? What makes it right for the government, when it’s wrong for anyone else?” What’s my point? Freedom of choice is the point. Until people realize they have the FREEDOM to CHOOSE what type of protection service they want – to the same degree one has for fastfood places – nothing will change and the government will continue to spend your money on things made to control you. Not protect you. Until more people realize that, you might as well sue, help expose fiat currency for what it is, smoke and mirrors.

To learn more about Free Markets click here.