So many laws on the books claim to be about enforcing safety but are really about extracting money from the populace. Speed limits are a good example of this. Every excuse in the book has been used to justify speed limits including environmental and safety reasons. Truth be told it’s about money, as long as you can afford to pay the ticket your violation of the speed limit will be forgiven. Failing to comply with regulations are another example of this, so long as you can afford the fines you can continue violating said regulations.
Uncle’s post shows that the state of Tennessee is getting more blatant about their pay to play system:
Tennesseans who have committed certain nonviolent crimes will be able to have their criminal records expunged for a $350 fee under a bill expected to become law July 1.
[…]
Tennesseans convicted of a single felony or misdemeanor for nonviolent theft, certain types of fraud, vandalism, or other nonviolent crimes may qualify. They must have stayed crime-free for the past five years and paid all restitution and penalties.
In other words your crimes of nonviolent theft, fraud, or vandalism will be forgiven as long as you can prove your loyalty to your masters (stay crime-free) and foot the $350.00 indulgence fee. I’m waiting for the day the church’s old practice of indulgences is fully reimplemented. It would be very convenient to merely pay some money upfront to be forgiven of future transgressions against various state decrees.