these little municipalities around St. Louis make a lot of money giving tickets for these little Mickey Mouse infractions, they've been doing it for years, and now you finally see what happens when someone stands up and won't take it anymore.
I agree with you that it's outrageous for the government and it's law enforcement agents to harass decent, hard-working citizens simply because they need to reach a certain quota dude (in this case, the amount of parking tickets handed out). But do you honestly think that the guy was right in shooting cops who were just following orders? Mind you, I'm not saying the cops were innocent cause we all know how some of them can be. I think it's tragic that all those lives were lost cause as someone pointed out, they all have families who must be feeling frustrated that it was all because of some damn parking tickets.
Looks like the situation is universal - even here in NZ, parking wardens are some of the most hated people of them all. They need to hand out a certain number of tickets a month to retain their job, which also, unfortunately, makes them totally indifferent to individual situations where giving out a ticket isn't necessary at all. It's damned if you do, damned if you won't