There’s a very good case to be made that these kind of laws are selectively used as a tool to oppress minorities and the poor. So while it’s probably not the straightforward Mr. Burns picture you painted, it is absolutely one of many tools in a large toolbox employed in America to continue to maintain the existing power dynamic.

Do you mind making this "very good case" for this legal oppression to a non-American?

Well, to use a quote from Anatole France who put it more pithily:

> In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.

This is a very interesting perspective that I hadn’t considered, and I think it’s because I’m from a very small Midwest town where homelessness is not an issue.

So when the person I replied to talks about public drinking in parks, in my head I’m picturing the family gatherings my family does each year in the park; and I think about several of my relatives who struggle with alcohol addiction, and my reaction is “well yeah, of course nobody wants to deal with a huge group of drunk people being rowdy in the park.”

What I don’t consider is how those same laws can be used against homeless people to remove them from the same park. In a town of 3000 people, homelessness is not something that really exists here.

Thanks for your comment, it has helped me understand the issue.