“Defund Police” is a Trojan Horse Part 2
(Steve Baker) I concluded 'Part 1’ of this discussion with a 2008 quote from then Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama:
“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”
With that, many of you correctly discerned what’s waiting inside that Trojan Horse of “defunded" or “eliminated” traditional policing. Before I delve further, let’s review the obvious reforms the vast majority of Americans would like to see. Most of these are less “policing” problems, than they are legislative policies that need to be overturned. There’s also a big difference between “reform” and “defund.” These are the reforms that currently resonate with most Americans:
-An end to qualified immunity. (At the very least, LEOs should be held to the same standards of behavior as private citizens -- if not a higher standard, given their specialized training for dealing with stressful and dangerous situations?)
-An end to “victimless” crimes. (Something that resonates with most libertarians . . . but . . . do we really want to wait until someone driving with a 0.24 blood alcohol content kills a family of four BEFORE cops pull them over and take them off the road? There is still some reasonable debate needed on this concept.)
-An end to civil asset forfeiture. (As close to an inarguable no-brainer as we can get. Due process should always precede forfeiture. At the least, assets specifically related to the commission of an alleged crime could be frozen until a verdict is rendered.)
-An end to no-knock warrants and raids. (There’s absolutely no reasonable excuse for this to continue. There are too many viable alternatives. “Change my mind.”)
-A reduction of the influence and power by police unions that protects bad cops from prosecution. (Unions are unions. Collective contract negotiations are one thing. Protecting lawlessness is another. They need not go hand-in-hand. Just remember to whose campaigns these unions are donating to achieve their legislative agendas.)
-Make body cameras mandatory and universal for all policing agencies and personnel, and establish a policy for the immediate release of all video when loss of life occurs or excessive force is alleged. (Period. Accountability. Freedom of information. WE pay their salaries. Duh.)
-Demilitarization of local policing agencies. (Return policing to the mindset that law enforcement officers are “peace officers,” not a “standing army.")
-Empower “peace officers” to protect both life AND private property. (If criminals, looters, rioters, and domestic terrorists know that property is a sacrosanct aspect of life and livelihoods, and that when in the act of destruction they can be stopped — “by any means necessary” — they WILL stop.)
Once again . . . before we can proceed further toward the theme of the “Trojan Horse," PROPERTY must now take centerstage in this discussion:
"By security property, life and liberty can scarcely fail of being secured; where property is safe by rules and principles, there is liberty." -Fisher Ames, Phocion No. V
Indeed, John Locke himself established that the only justifiable reason for forming governments was the protection of property:
“The great and chief end therefore, of Mens uniting into Commonwealths, and putting themselves under Government, is the Preservation of their Property.”
Locke, being one of Thomas Jefferson’s intellectual heroes, influenced Jefferson to pen thusly this most famous of phrases in the Declaration of Independence:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Locke actually defined those rights, once as, "life, liberty, and estate,” and on another occasion, "life, liberty, health, and indolency of body; and the possession of outward things.”
Jefferson replaced "estate” and “outward things” with “happiness,” presumably because, without the preservation of the “fruits of our labor” there can be no happiness. Loss of life, loss of freedom, and loss of possessions all being at cross purposes with the pursuit of happiness.
We recently saw the video from one of Seattle’s CHAZ leaders demanding that whites hand over money to blacks, and then he went on to explain that any failure to do so presented evidence that they would not be down for the continued “struggle" ahead, stating:
"And if you find that's difficult - if you find it's hard for you to give ten dollars to people of color, to black people especially, you have to think really critically about — IN THE FUTURE, ARE YOU GOING TO ACTUALLY GIVE UP POWER AND LAND AND CAPITAL WHEN YOU HAVE IT?”
Karl Marx said in his Manifesto of the Communist Party, "In this sense, the theory of the Communists may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property.”
Exactly what did we witness as protests over the killing of George Floyd turned into riots? Progressive stronghold mayors ordering their officers to stand down as private property was destroyed and looted. When half the country decried this with a resounding “WTF?,” we were then accused of being "more concerned with property, than with lives."
How far we’ve come from the time when a “horse thief” would often face immediate hanging, without a trial. Why so swift and cruel this method of justice? Because the horse was the very means of the livelihood of the victim. To steal a man’s horse was to rob him of the ability to grow his crops, get his goods to market, earn his living, and feed his own family. To take his “property” was to take his very "life.” That’s exactly what happened to innumerable small businesses in these recent riots. That’s also what has happened in these arbitrary COVID-19 shutdowns. The livelihoods — indeed the very lives — of millions have been stolen. In the latter case, not by some Antifa punk or opportunistic thug, but by government itself.
The signal has now been clearly sent: your property, your business, and your livelihood is of little-to-no concern to our elected officials. They’ve proven this with a back-to-back, “never let a crisis go to waste,” one-two punch. But, in so doing, they’ve also revealed their endgame. They will not protect our properties and livelihoods. In many communities we are not even allowed to protect our property, ourselves. Add now to endless regulation, burdensome taxation, and sure-to-rise insurance rates, the further disincentive of FEAR. A fear that government will no longer perform its one moral function: protecting its citizens and their property from criminal force.
Why bother with the risk and investment of starting a business? Just put out your hand and ask the central government to meet your most basic of needs . . . from the cradle to the grave. The reprogramming of Americans away from pursuing that “American dream” proceeds now at an accelerated pace.
Exactly one week after the riotous destruction that took place here in Raleigh, NC, I took a long walk through downtown for a first hand view of the aftermath. As I usually do on these walks, I’ll either listen to music I’m working on, or to podcasts. On this occasion, I was listening to a lengthy lecture by Jordan B. Peterson. About five miles into the journey, Peterson stopped me dead in my tracks. It was a throwaway line, in response to the very last question of the lecture’s closing Q&A section. He said:
“The more you scream for equality, the more your unconscious is going to admire dominance.”
I immediately halted. Frozen in place, I opened the notepad on my iPhone to jot down the quote. He wasn’t referring to real equality. That is: equality before the law, or equality of opportunity for every individual. In the context of his answer, he was specifically speaking of the “equality of outcomes” being demanded by and for certain special interest groups — based on the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, or despite the consequences of poor decisions and personal incompetence. As such, instead of looking to themselves, and asking “how do I fix my problem,” they begin to first admire, then demand a dominant, authoritarian power to take charge and bring their desired remediation for the perceived “unfairness” experienced in their lives.
While 'equality of opportunity' feeds off the voluntary exchange of ideas, goods, and services, 'equality of outcomes' requires total submission to totalitarian dominance over the expression of our ideas, our choice of livelihoods, and the surrender of our “land and capital" to the collective. We see this everyday as social media begins to cancel our voices. We are told that “silence is violence,” but we are only allowed to speak that which is approved of by the mob. We are now even being required to kneel — literally and physically KNEEL — before one of those special interest groups. You can be sure, given the nature of identity politics, yet another group will soon follow that lead with similar demands.
Ultimately, we will be required to kneel before the god of government in supplication for our daily sustenance. Already, today, we must wear a mask — the “mark” of our submission to authority — in order to “buy and sell.”
But what happens when local police are so neutered from that most basic of notions, “To Serve and Protect?” When they fear to draw a weapon to defend either you or themselves from an increasingly emboldened element of rebellion and insurrection? When cities and communities are no longer able to find and hire a “good cop” to replace those from amongst the growing number of resignations already taking place across the country?
Make no mistake, policing agencies have legislatively acquired too much unconstitutional authority. Their unions have achieved for them far too much “immunity” from the behavioral accountability by which the rest of us are legally restrained. They, and their political puppet masters have opened the door to much righteous criticism and condemnation. Now that the door is open, in steps the likes of such “community organizers” as . . . Saul Alinsky’s acolytes. Many of whom now occupy governorships and mayoral offices. From Alinsky’s 13 'Rules for Radicals’:
#5 - "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.”
#13 - "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
Despite the damage they’ve done to themselves, policing and law enforcement is not an ignoble concept or occupation. But, what will happen when local police are so ridiculed into frozen paralysis, unable -- or unavailable -- to protect our most basic pursuits of life, liberty, and happiness . . . or, property, as it were? "Defund Police" Is A Trojan Horse - Part 3 . . . coming soon.
