Ben Boychuk asks, “Why so angry?”
Well, as the saying goes, if you aren’t angry you aren’t paying attention. They’re angry about Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and dozens of other black men who have died at the hands of police. The “consensus” among protesters, according to the San Francisco Chronicle the other day, is that “law enforcement in the U.S. is poisoned by racial bias that wounds or kills people of color and must change.”
Something must change, but maybe it’s the way we think about law enforcement in general. […]
How nice it must be to see the world in such black-and-white terms. Rarely are social and political problems ever so simple. Then again, street protests rarely lend themselves to nuance. It’s tough to reason with a demonstrator playing dead in the middle of a highway, or a brick smashing through a storefront window. Shutting down Interstate 5 in San Diego or I-80 in Oakland is disruptive. But it isn’t terribly persuasive.
If you think the system is inherently racist, you aren’t paying attention. Americans distrust government institutions writ large, and the police are not exempt. […]
What’s missing here is a serious discussion – as opposed to street sloganeering – about the limits of police power. For conservatives, this is a challenge. Law and order are crucial elements of a free society. We are “a government of laws, and not of men,” as John Adams declared.
But in the 21st century, we are a government of too many laws and too many bureaucrats. We have thousands upon thousands of rules and regulations, all backed by the implicit threat of force. Our legislators send around 1,000 bills to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature every year, many for “our own good.”
True, cops go where the criminals are. They also enforce the laws, not matter how ill-conceived, idiotic or unjust.
Ben is correct, the Three Felonies A Day approach of our Ruling Class to “administer” the hoi polloi should be the focus of our efforts. However, it needs to also be pointed out that the ‘National Day of Anger’ crowd is not interested in a limited government solution, but only after their own despots in power.
When you look at the pictures coming from the #Justice4all hashtag on Twitter, the number of signs from the usual far-left collectivist organizations, e.g. A.N.S.W.E.R., are quite (and unsurprisingly) prevalent.
Saturday’s political street theater amounts to a tragic missed opportunity. This “Day of Anger” is a tantrum, and branding cops as racists is a trivial pursuit. Burn down the system? Fine. And replace it with what?
We don’t need a police state, and we don’t need an administrative state. We need a strictly limited state. That’s a goal that should unite Americans left and right.
The Left isn’t “anti-police” as much as they want their own “police.” Along with the dismantling of everything necessary for a limited, Constitutional government.
This street theater isn’t ‘tragic’ or a ‘missed opportunity’; it’s indicative of moral sickness.
Until you can change the hearts and minds of the “There Outta Be a Law! For our own Good!” crowd, we’re just rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.
Can you say, “bite me?”
Sure, you can.
C’mon, friends…
They’re angry about Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and dozens of other black men who have died at the hands of police. (Emphasis added)
The multiple thousands of black men, women and children killed at the hands of other black men being unavailable for comment.
Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws – always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: “Please pass this so that I won’t be able to do something I know I should stop.” Nyet, tovarischee, was always something they hated to see their neighbors doing. Stop them “for their own good” – not because speaker claimed to be harmed by it. — Manuel Garcia O’Kelly Davis (“The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress”)
I’d really like to see all existing laws sunset, every damned one of them. It would keep these law-happy congrassholes busy re-writing the important ones (Thou shalt not Murder, &c.).
These pathetic self-indulgent, spoiled and short-sighted lawbreakers protesting small potatoes haven’t a clue as to where real anger needs be directed, do they?
Here’s a well-written discourse on where Conservatism might should go post-Obama.
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/12/14127/
Rewriting is where things go wrong. Let them copy-and-paste the sensible malum in se laws back onto the books every few years, but require that a malum prohibitem law, once expired, may not be re-enacted with a yea vote from any lawmaker who ever voted for it in the past.
And a voice vote disqualifies everyone, regardless of how they voted.
Millions will march. See the millions. See the anger.
the first priority of any good union piggy for example your average piece of coptrash or your everyday child-raping public school teacher is to be as unaccountable as possible
and what we have found is that “as unaccountable as possible” is very very unaccountable indeed
there’s no answer here that doesn’t start with ridding the system of the corrupt and execrable racketeerings of the popo unions
that said this is not a good anger day I think this is a good day for cucumber martinis
they should rename it National Day of Cucumber Martinis
the 5 times distilled Pearl Cucumber Vodka is super cheap here in Chicago, and personally I like it just as well as Tito’s – it was definitely less than Tito’s back in LA but by far not as cheap as here
but on the other hand the el presidente brandy I like from mexico is kind of a premium bottle here, like it costs twice as much as it did in the valley
‘feets, you must realize that we cannot have an effective Ruling Class without it’s well-fed and supportive Warrior Class. Wouldn’t want to be caught without that Thin Blue Line would you? Why. chaos and anarchy with a frosting of cocaine and meth would certainly rule the day!
i worry more about whether or not the nonstick surfaces in my cookware are safe
I think Professor de la Paz’ solution would be better still: require that all laws be passed only with a 2/3 majority, and have a separate chamber enabled with the power to overturn any law with a mere 1/3 affirmative vote. (If any law is so poorly written that it cannot convince 2/3 of the chamber of the necessity of it, is it not likely that society would be better off without it? And if any enacted law is disapproved of by more than a third of you, is it not likely that society would be better getting rid of it?)
I would also suggest that all Supreme Court decisions be sun-setted, based on the vote count:
a 5/4 decision dies off in five years;
a 6/3 in ten years;
a 7/2 lasts 20;
an 8/1 lasts 30 years; and,
a unanimous verdict is valid for 50 years.
Beyond that span, the decision can be revisited by any Federal Court, and if more than double the specified span has passed, it is open for re-evaluation by any judge.
Drum, the first SCOTUS decisions overturned would be those recent ones validating the #2A. Without which, we would’ve been overrun by snarling jackbooted Ruling Class thugs already.
the Tamir Rice video is truly stunning
like if you watch it you will be stunned
serr8d
When locals provide their own security, when every citizen is a member of the warrior class, abuse is far less likely because the watchmen have no motivation to abuse themselves.
Ok then, just how then do you tell the citizen from the gang member? The ordinary shop keeper from the mafia enforcer?
Who then, arrests the persons suspected of theft, rape, murder – gathers the evidence (under what rules), conducts the forensics, prepares the reports, evaluates the reports, brings all parties to a court room (run by whom, under whose rules, according to what procedures based on what law), empanels a jury and follows through to acquittal or conviction and, in the latter, who pronounces then enforces judgment?
The infrastructure behind the Blue Line isn’t fully corrupted, Darleen. Seems that many of the front line ‘soldiers’ are, though. From my link above…
Seems Mr. Smith has nailed it solid.
Ok then, just how then do you tell the citizen from the gang member?
I see your point. It’s easy to tell the gang members now, but if they take off their badges and colors, we won’t know who to be scared of.
lee
There are places in EU (and some default in USA) that cops will no go into.
Are those places you would prefer to live in?
I see less a problem with individual cops than I see with the Police Unions and their incestuous relationship with Big Gov politicians.
when you join a union you kinda surrender your individuality to the glory of the collective
i’d be embarrassed for these ones if the consequences weren’t so pernicious
There are places in EU (and some default in USA) that cops will no go into.
Are those places you would prefer to live in?
If I was a member of those communities, I likely would.
I used to like to go to the FSU football games, but now that the cops outnumber football players, and they won’t even let me drink an overpriced draft beer at the event, I stay home.
I guess there are those of us willing to trade safety for liberty, but I ain’t one.
I’ve had interactions with a great many police officers.
The worst cops I ever dealt with were the ones I handed attitude before the encounter really got started. The deputy sheriff who drew on me was actually one of the nicer ones (after the patdown, of course) — as I’ve described in these threads before, he not only returned my blunt instrument, he offered pointers on how to use it effectively.
I may not have mentioned that he never even cuffed me.
Must be the withered husk of my privilege.
please to stop having these interactions
it’s russian roulette it’s risky business it’s a high stakes game of chance it’s a roll of the dice it’s a house of cards it’s a crap shoot it’s a bad bet my friend
stay frosty
Your national unbiased news.
Well, I probably should have come to a full stop at that stop sign a couple of years back, that was my last interaction. But my privilege caused me to be let off with a warning by the 115-pound lady cop instead of being pinned to the ground until I couldn’t breathe.
she was merciful
that time
‘Cause I’m pretty sure when she ran my plates a message popped up that said, “BEWARE: subject argued with the DMV and won.”
that’s just your cheeky cheeky privilege talking
cnn is just weird
it’s not even weird in a cutesy cute american way
it’s weird in a nasty foreign ted turner groping jane fonda’s titties bullshit way
#rapeculture
i can’t think news
Penguins commentator aplogizes for ‘I Can’t Breathe’ reference
#ican’tthink for the barbarians
[…] Darleen Click on Protein Wisdom: “Happy ‘National Day of Anger’ to you and yours!” […]
#epipenstat
very clever
Last interaction I had with law enforcement was with a county deputy what told me he personally didn’t have a problem with me shooting stray dogs on my property, but suggested I should be mindful of dog owners lawyers. A very helpful sort he was.
Sheriffs deputies are mostly splendid individuals that understand the civil servant/citizen relationship. ‘Cuz of they need us as much as we need them. It’s an edifying concept.
so the “bleck” folks are going for:
>security. . . .
{14}Let us now imagine that one day something in our greengrocer snaps and he stops putting up the slogans merely to ingratiate himself. He stops voting in elections he knows are a farce. He begins to say what he really thinks at political meetings. And he even finds the strength in himself to express solidarity with those whom his conscience commands him to support. In this revolt the greengrocer steps out of living within the lie. He rejects the ritual and breaks the rules of the game. He discovers once more his suppressed identity and dignity. He gives his freedom a concrete significance. His revolt is an attempt to live within the truth. . . .
{15}The bill is not long in coming. He will be relieved of his post as manager of the shop and transferred to the warehouse. His pay will be reduced. His hopes for a holiday in Bulgaria will evaporate. His children’s access to higher education will be threatened. His superiors will harass him and his fellow workers will wonder about him. Most of those who apply these sanctions, however, will not do so from any authentic inner conviction but simply under pressure from conditions, the same conditions that once pressured the greengrocer to display the official slogans. They will persecute the greengrocer either because it is expected of them, or to demonstrate their loyalty, or simply as part of the general panorama, to which belongs an awareness that this is how situations of this sort are dealt with, that this, in fact, is how things are always done, particularly if one is not to become suspect oneself. The executors, therefore, behave essentially like everyone else, to a greater or lesser degree: as components of the post-totalitarian system, as agents of its automatism, as petty instruments of the social auto-totality. <
oh havel
> 16}Thus the power structure, through the agency of those who carry out the sanctions, those anonymous components of the system, will spew the greengrocer from its mouth. The system, through its alienating presence in people, will punish him for his rebellion. It must do so because the logic of its automatism and self-defense dictate it. The greengrocer has not committed a simple, individual offense, isolated in its own uniqueness, but something incomparably more serious. By breaking the rules of the game, he has disrupted the game as such. He has exposed it as a mere game. He has shattered the world of appearances, the fundamental pillar of the system. He has upset the power structure by tearing apart what holds it together. He has demonstrated that living a lie is living a lie. He has broken through the exalted facade of the system and exposed the real, base foundations of power. He has said that the emperor is naked. And because the emperor is in fact naked, something extremely dangerous has happened: by his action, the greengrocer has addressed the world. He has enabled everyone to peer behind the curtain. He has shown everyone that it is possible to live within the truth. Living within the lie can constitute the system only if it is universal. The principle must embrace and permeate everything. There are no terms whatsoever on which it can co-exist with living within the truth, and therefore everyone who steps out of line denies it in principle and threatens it in its entirety. . . .
{17}The original and most important sphere of activity, one that predetermines all the others, is simply an attempt to create and support the independent life of society as an articulated expression of living within the truth. In other words, serving truth consistently, purposefully, and articulately, and organizing this service. This is only natural, after all: if living within the truth is an elementary starting point for every attempt made by people to oppose the alienating pressure of the system, if it is the only meaningful basis of any independent act of political import, and if, ultimately, it is also the most intrinsic existential source of the “dissident” attitude, then it is difficult to imagine that even manifest “dissent” could have any other basis than the service of truth, the truthful life, and the attempt to make room for the genuine aims of life. <
link
Voice Of Truth – Casting Crowns
Casting Crowns Praise You In The Storm
Casting Crowns – Jesus, Friend of Sinners
FWIW: The investigative reporting being done by ‘sundance’ at The Conservative Treehouse and @0Hour1 on twitter is quite fascinating. (re. the Jessica Chambers case)
Apparently, the whole damned town runs on a Meth-based Economy, pretty much.
> the whole damned town runs on a Meth-based Economy, <
Jesus, Friend of Sinners
but to the casting crowd crowd: eff the other side. die satan!!11!!
hands up for jesus
Blessed Redeemer
Lee
I don’t want to trade security for liberty at all .. that’s why I wouldn’t live in any area controlled by either the Mexican cartels or Islamic Imams.
Again, the issue isn’t many individual LEOs as even yourself pointed out, but the political entities that control the agencies they belong to and the way-too-many-laws such politicos pass including the ones that strip LEOs of any discretion to ignore the law or warn/advise citizens as your example illustrated.
Remember the LAPD cop who was called out on that no-name actress & her chef boyfriend who were having sex in public (open car door in view of surrounding businesses) – he carried his own recording device to be able to avoid false charges of abuse. He dealt in with the hysterical actress who was on the phone with “daddy” and trying to pull some sort of celebrity cred on him, then the race card. He dealt with her in a calm manner (with a bit of eye rolling).
Did his agency back him up? No, he was put on admin leave while being investigated.
Cuz politics.
John
Good lord, that reads like a bad crime novel — they are submitting to being run by a gang? And Jessica just got some “justice” served on her?
dayum
Cops are only human; they will rise to levels of caring (for others) and fall to levels of meanness (to others) that is their natural state: their own personal characters. Unless s/he is constrained by some strong innate or drubbed-in code of morality (which synchs closely to individual IQs) and ongoing close supervision, we’ll tend to see badcops outnumbering goodcops, because adrenaline and artificial power tend to overrun weak and loose moral barriers; those having weak character traits hardest hit.
The best cops I’ve known have all had strong religious upbringings, which definitely augments base – innate human morality levels.
The deputy sheriff in my anecdote worked (still works?) for one of the largest sheriff’s departments in the country, practically a PD in its own right.
If the sheriff/police distinction matters, Sacramento would be an exception.
If the distinction matters.
cops are super-expensive, the toll they take on america
as america declines this will become glaringly obvious to even your most rabid cop-fans
If the distinction matters.
I think the distinction is the Sherriff is elected by the people of the county. Being accountable to the people rather than protected by the union makes for a contrast of attitude.
Sacramento sheriff’s deputies have a union that would have made Hoffa blush.