Peter Tubic was burdened with his own problems when the Milwaukee city government thought he needed one more. For keeping his unlicensed car parked in his driveway, he was fined $50. Over the course of four years, the unpaid $50 parking fine swelled to $2,645 after late fees were continuously tacked on. To pay for it, the city foreclosed on Mr. Tubic's house.

This tragedy is not simply that one man's debt can run so high, but that there is no force to stop it. The city government became the fat kid in gymnastics: inflexible to a fault. According to city officials, they cannot reverse the fee or the foreclosure even if everyone wanted to; quite a winning attitude. 

"At this point, there's really not too much that would allow us to reverse those charges," said Don Schaewe, supervisor of the city's nuisance section who may also be chairman of Milwaukee's local "Not My Problem" chapter.

The government could not even come up with a less painful way of scratching $2,645 out of Mr. Tubic, like harvesting his kidney. Instead, they took his house, despite the fact the man was psychologically unfit to handle the situation.

Social Security Administration records state that Tubic, 62, has been disabled since 2001 from an illness that limits his "ability to understand, remember and carry out detailed instructions." The man admits he would have paid the ticket, but says he was physically and psychologically unable to handle the situation.

This is not just a story of one man slipping through the cracks. It is a lesson in how large those cracks can actually be. In this case, they are literally as big as a house.

There is a compelling counterargument in the government's favor that we are a nation of laws and arbitrary exceptions (albeit emotionally compelling ones) are not the stuff of firm democracy. Our duly elected leaders have erected a sometimes uncompromising system, and as a result, most people pay their fines and fix the violation that incurred fining in the first place.  After all, despite fifteen notices, Mr. Tubic never removed his unlicensed car from the driveway or paid the tickets.

But there is also a contradiction written into that defense. The system is not simple.  Lawyers exist for a reason - yes there is a reason - which is to help people navigate the legal labyrinth.  The prolixity of civil code is not comprehensible to an average American, especially one like Mr. Tubic.

In America, someone facing criminal charges is entitled to an attorney. But one facing a civil violation, like a financially crippling parking fine, is not. And if Mr. Tubic was convicted of a major criminal offense without legal counsel, at least he would not be homeless.

But how is it possible that no one in Milwaukee's government paused to consider that there might be something unusual, if not cruel, about a fine that can multiply so fast.  The government can take a house with swift expertise and still find time to lambaste those responsible for the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Yet when it comes to explaining policy, they are as misunderstood as, well, the fat kid in gymnastics.

The government's hypocrisy in house-snatching while criticizing financial institutions for solving their own debts the same way is a blatant, even if small-scale, abuse of power.  So with the national debt growing even faster than Mr. Tubic's, I wonder if it is about time that America forecloses on Congress and the White House. Come on, everyone's doing it.

Also Interesting: 

Bush to Environmentalists: “Endanger is my middle name”
The War on Marijuana
Stop Driving So Fast, 81-Year-Old Senator Tells America
To: Employee, from: Employer. Subj: You’re Fired!
Bright ideas no longer represented by a light bulb