Quite the idea.
It's one of those things where it's like..
I'm sure some people actually mean it. And then people kind of just rally around the statement but it's probably more like "reform the police", or whatever.
And then the slippery elitists will be like "literally defunding the police is not quite what the point is obvvvviously durr hurr of courrrrrse".
🤔 Okay, well that's what was said lol. Like ya, I agree it's a ridiculous statement that we don't take seriously, I just thought you actually meant it.
They want the shock value of the extreme statement, but they don't like the other side of the coin where they're supposed to stand behind it and explain it.
Instead of pivoting and being slippery, just say what you actually think.
Because that would be useful.
Everyone bothered by what happened to George Floyd and by police brutality would want to hear what the specific solutions might be.
If you're trying to use what happened for broader purposes, indeed "defund the police" works as a good rallying cry. But in terms of actually helping, it's meaningless.
It's hard to think of specific solutions.
One thing that helps is listening to your kids and valuing their concerns and feedback. It doesn't mean they get the fourth slice of cake, but they should get an explanation about what cake is and why you think it's bad to eat too much.
When it's just about you and they're an afterthought, it can become a thing where they learn to say or do extreme things as a way to be heard. And then it's like "no Billy, it doesn't make sense to stick a thumbtack thru Joseph's toe", and in turn Billy feels even increasingly alienated, and the vicious cycle from there.
Hence, "defund the police".
In a sense you absolutely could defund the police.
Meaning, not have police.
But society in general would have to morph around it to something totally different.
Me personally.. 🤷🤷
In my mind everything should be freely chosen. If hypothetically we put ourselves in this future scenario where the non-aggression principle (i.e., "you're not allowed to initiate fraud or coercion against other human beings") is the legal backbone of everything, then "police" as we know them now kind of stop being a thing.
At least, there aren't special, designated people like "these are the police".
It just is universally recognized that an initiation of violence is wrong, and that defending yourself and others is legal and fine. So anyone can "police" bad behavior, and courts and public opinion can sort it out and confirm who was the perpetrator.
We'll have robots and force-fields and weird futuristic AI things to help. ("Guns" as we know them will become old-fashioned.)
Plus we'll form communities of trusted people and just not have as much potential for trouble.
On top of that there can be privately run services. But really it will probably be decentralized, essentially like Uber. If you're in danger, you open the app and it broadcasts your cam and mic and location and everything, and whoever is logged in can go be a hero.
(The incentives would all have to get hashed out and balanced. Uber probably sounded funky at first too. Don't worry about it.)
Remember the set of incentives that exists now is something like: "take money from the population at large against their will / no profit motive or direct relation with consumer / if anyone complains it usually doesn't matter much because we review it ourselves and are friends with all the judges" 😆
So it's not exactly a high bar.
I think we all realize that if your bike gets stolen, the police will tell you "darn, sorry pal" and maybe file paperwork about it. On the Heroes™️ app, at least maybe someone will creatively pursue it.
My feeling is a lot of the acumen and excellence within the police force gets wasted. And on my app in the future the most heroic, most driven to serve and protect will shine even brighter.
And the weaker cops who are in it for the paperwork basically depend on how it is now and won't be logging in to go rescue people.
Sometimes I wonder how everyone isn't on my level 🤷🤷
It's like you have the answer key right here on steemit.com/@full-measure and you're all off watching CNN or Young Turks or whatever shit.
Just read the parables, people..
Just kidding. But I hope when they lift the curtain and pass us on and tell you how you did, that they really go into it and you have to think a little about how right I was before you get to be an angel.
😆
But ya, there definitely is something better than what exists now.
It's just.. You'd have to get rid of the statism to get rid of the police. When political bodies draw up laws, it wouldn't mean anything if in turn there weren't people to enforce it.
It's worth mentioning that a lot of the protesting and rally and taking over Seattle 😆 and everything isn't specifically about George Floyd or police at this point.
That might still be what's inspiring them, but I mean if it's like "Floyd was wrongly killed and 2+3=12", you can still disagree with part of it.
They love creating these things where it's sticky to push back. It all gets conflated as "race" or "justice for Floyd", and then they can call it racist whenever there's push-back against whatever obscure Antifa thing.
Socialist economics isn't peaceful or productive or broadly popular in America. So in a fair fight against their laissez-faire alternatives, they lose. So invoking race is a useful means for them, and becomes their general strategy.
So ya, let's defund police..
Brilliant. As far as I can tell, that means moving away from power and authority and control over other people.
So one thing that comes to mind is now it's okay for everyone to own guns, even the big scary ones. (The cute little irony about "no guns" is that you always needed people with guns to enforce the rule about not having guns, lol.)
No more taxes now. Which is fine for people who are net payers, but bad for net recipients and bad for free education and similar visions.
Are you planning to just ask the billionaires nicely?
You don't have a way to control what people do with their behavior or with their resources if you don't have police.
And what prey tell would happen if I have a conveyor belt in my basement and lowkey kind of own a means of production? Does a woke kid knock politely and try to confuse me into not wanting it anymore?
Bless their hearts.
But you need police.
Not you you, not the generic you. You communistic types. When what you believe and the way you want the world to operate is predicated on coercion (on having some control over how people behave and what they do with their money), you need police.
Remember up above when I said it's hard to know the solution? I actually do know the solution.
End the war on drugs.
Drug addiction and misuse is a health and medical issue. It's very odd that we lock people in a cage and hold them as prisoners when they deal with it.
Once upon a time, people who were concerned with social justice in America actually remembered that this might be a thing to talk about once in a while. Particularly because black and minority communities are affected the most.
There was a time when I was a boy that a tree fell on my neighbor. He was stuck under the tree. For a good 20 minutes or so probably. My guess is that his primary concern at the time was the tree.
Rather than "defund police", if instead we just carved out the war on drugs, that would reduce it closer to a peacekeeping, civil service type of thing.
🤷🤷🤷🤷🤷