Driving w/o a license

[MaineShark]

When the shippers check for licenses do they get to wear a badge and get all "milgrammy" cuz the man in the white coat said they had to?

Can we give him a prize for that one?  I think that's one of the best new words I've seen in a while... (or, well, worst in that we need such a word, but best in terms of being able to describe such behavior)

[Russell Kanning]

mostly matter of fact
what is funny is that only a fraction of them do it .... so it must hold no penalties ... they do it more the closer you get to mexico

[KBCraig]

I've always had a license, but for years I had a habit of really pushing the limits when it came to renewing car tags or safety inspections.

I finally decided that being so cautious to avoid any police attention made me more of a slave than just paying the damn money. Not to mention the stress it caused every time I drove.

[Russell Kanning]

that is kinda funny .... because car tags seem cheap and not very invasive to me .... but asking for a license to drive is rotten. It might also depend how long the lines are to get them.

[MaineShark]

that is kinda funny .... because car tags seem cheap and not very invasive to me ....

Eh?  Registration is more invasive, because it gives the government a list of what you have, not just telling them that you may, at some point, drive some vehicle of some sort, which may or may not be one that you actually own, or you may do none of those things at all.  Other than, "this guy may decide to drive," the license gives them almost nothing.  Registration details the exact vehicles that you have.

And registration costs far more than a license.  A license costs $50 for five years in NH.  Most folks are paying a lot more than that per year for registration on each vehicle, and a lot of folks may have more than one vehicle - which becomes even more ridiculous when you have to pay full registration on a vehicle that you may only drive a handful of times each year.

I've often wanted to have a second vehicle that was more fuel-efficient than my truck, just because I dislike wasting things, including fuel.  But from an economic standpoint, even if someone gave me a vehicle, the registration costs exceed what I could save in fuel by using it for the small number of long trips that I take each year.

but asking for a license to drive is rotten. It might also depend how long the lines are to get them.

Never had a line in NH, and even if I did, it would only be twice per decade.  On the other hand, registration is at the whim of the Town Clerk, and some of them can be real jerks, causing far more difficulty than one would have to endure, even if there were a long line at the DMV.  And it's yearly, so the hassle multiplies.

[Russell Kanning]

can you realize that I was joking with KB about our different perceptions?
I was not telling him he was wrong.
For me the car paperwork is kinda impersonal. Whereas the drivers license is the method the government uses to ID each of us.
I guess you see it the other way around. That doesn't bother me at all. In fact it is interesting.

[MaineShark]

can you realize that I was joking with KB about our different perceptions?
I was not telling him he was wrong.

Didn't say you were.  Just giving a comparison.

For me the car paperwork is kinda impersonal. Whereas the drivers license is the method the government uses to ID each of us.
I guess you see it the other way around. That doesn't bother me at all. In fact it is interesting.

If it were the case that few folks had licenses, I'd agree.  But the reality is that the overwhelming majority get them, so they don't offer much information to the government.

And, given how readily someone without a license could drive a car, anyway (versus with no plates, where they'd be pulled over in fairly short order), it doesn't even really tell the government whether or not you may drive a car.  It gives them virtually nothing, in terms of information about you.

Registration tells them a lot of detail about not just the fact that you exist (which they know, anyway), but what sort of choices you make in life.  Many states require your yearly mileage (and with the push to go for mileage-based taxation, that may even come to NH), so they even know something about how much traveling you do.  Because they have your VIN, they know exactly what option packages your vehicle has, which can help them if they want to spy on you.  Registration gives them a lot of information that they otherwise would not have.

Plus, it's a lot more expensive than a license, so it puts a lot more money into their hands.

[Russell Kanning]

I sometimes just hand the feds money by standing too close to a fuel pump

[Mark D. Jacobsen]

Hi all.
I wanted to put a good word in.
I used to drive w/o permission from the state. I have greatly reduced my driving not having a car. It broke down and I sold it. Sometimes out of necessity I will get behind the wheel and when I do I follow all the rules to the letter to avoid imprisonment. I want to note it is not having a car that is the critical factor here, not the lack of permission.

The reason for the lack of permission is the state took the drivers license. Apparently it wasn't mine if some entity can take it from me, and if that action is not theft by law, the dl obviously wasn't mine in the first place. If permission from the state somehow granted me immunity from natural law (crashing and dying) then maybe it would be worth it to bow down. But it doesn't.

I have empathy for people that go down this path of civdis especially out of conscious choice as elkingrey has chosen as opposed to how I stumbled on my path to freedom.

I know people comply with the state largely out of fear or because that is what their peers and family expect from them. This understanding doesn't go much further because the external pressure leads folks to become an enforcer of the state. That is the opposite of liberty imo.

[Russell Kanning]

exactly

[MaineShark]

Sometimes out of necessity I will get behind the wheel and when I do I follow all the rules to the letter to avoid imprisonment.

That, is the opposite of liberty.

[Jim Johnson]

Sometimes out of necessity I will get behind the wheel and when I do I follow all the rules to the letter to avoid imprisonment.

That, is the opposite of liberty.

Amazing, it's also the opposite of stupid; as in "Fuck you cop!"  eerrrrrrr, brooooom, "I'm Free, woo hoo!"

[MaineShark]

Sometimes out of necessity I will get behind the wheel and when I do I follow all the rules to the letter to avoid imprisonment.

That, is the opposite of liberty.

Amazing, it's also the opposite of stupid; as in "Fuck you cop!"  eerrrrrrr, brooooom, "I'm Free, woo hoo!"

One does not have to obey all the rules, to avoid that scenario.  In fact, it's possible to ignore most of the rules, most of the time, and still avoid jail.

Unless you're breaking one of the "instant gotcha" rules (like driving without a license), in which case the least little violation (even accidental) can result in a jail trip.

[Tom Sawyer]

Welcome to the forum Mark.  Some folks here will debate your choices, most will accept them.

In NH no license is (last I checked) a 75 dollar fine and they might tow the car. The tow, inconvenience and stress of the encounter is the worst of it.

Not having a license is not the same as a revoked license.

[Russell Kanning]

Getting caught without a license or even a suspended one .... In my case.....will often mean nothing in a  CA .     I guess that is where the freedom is.
In NH it always was trouble.
Now I have about a hundred ways to lose my license.... And if caught... They throw me in the darkest DOT pit.