Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Stop Subsidizing Irresponsibility
Townhall. Com ^ | June 14, 2020 | Gil Gutknecht,

Posted on 06/14/2020 4:57:13 AM PDT by Kaslin

In a tortured way, it all now makes sense. Most of us are at least vaguely familiar with the expression that police represent the thin blue line that stands between us and anarchy. While it seems like insanity to most rational people, if the objective is anarchy, then eliminating that blue line is critical.

The movement to defund the police is blossoming. Proponents have now enlisted support from a significant number of elected officials and celebrities. The Minneapolis City Council is leading the pack. Given the fact that scores of buildings in the city were looted and burned, council members may have felt intimidated. They saw their boy mayor booed and didn't want angry mobs outside their homes. They have now voted unanimously to move forward with defunding the police.

Looney leaders of Seattle thought they could placate Antifa anarchists by surrendering a precinct. Behold, a new nation, Chaz! Having never learned that feeding the crocodile only whets its appetite, the mayor made clear that President Trump should butt out.

We loudly concur!

With a straight face, the Washington governor pretended he knew nothing about the new autonomous nation established within his borders. The left messed their nests; let them clean them up. They made this bargain with the Devil; it’s their job to fix it.

It was liberal mayors and governors who allowed demonstrations to morph into riots and looting. They ordered their police to stand down. The same politicians are now lining up for bailouts to clean up and rebuild their burned-out cities. Why should taxpayers in Owatonna be forced to pay for the gross incompetence of elected officials in Minneapolis? They didn’t start fires or loot liquor stores. They didn’t surrender the Third Precinct. They certainly didn’t vote for any of the lunatics who now want to defund the police. Those big-city politicians now want everyone else to pay extra taxes to cover their buffoonery.

Nuts to that!

There is a very good policy reason to say no to any bailouts. If you subsidize irresponsibility you will surely get more of it. Minneapolis has a massive tax base. If business people (who pay a disproportionate share of the taxes) leave the city, city officials might better appreciate the need to protect business property in the future. If local property taxpayers are required to pay for the incompetence of the people they elect, a jolt of higher property taxes might affect their vote.

Elections do indeed have consequences.

For decades Minneapolis has been the recipient of a generous largesse from suburban and out-of-state taxpayers. They got help with stadiums, arenas and infrastructure. Their expensive light rail system is paid for largely by people who will never use it. They have tweaked local government and school aid formulas to their benefit. Their generous social welfare programs are subsidized by taxpayers who don’t vote in Minneapolis. All allowing liberal politicians to spread the lucre, buying votes with other taxpayers’ money.

One of the dividing lines between the right and the left is the respective views on responsibility. The left largely believes that people should not be held responsible for their own behavior; this includes looting and rioting. This view drives their thinking on the entire spectrum of issues from abortion to crime. It’s the reason the mayor of Seattle called the thugs, who are denying her access to her office, “patriots.” Street-tough young men aren’t responsible for skewed crime statistics. The police are. Abortion is justified because people “find” themselves pregnant; they don’t “get” pregnant.

It’s easy to assuage people by telling them that they aren’t really responsible, that they are victims. We make people even more irresponsible that way.

Right thinking people understand that free societies require an underpinning of personal responsibility. Successful businesses practice the principle of giving people authority and then holding them responsible for their decisions and actions. Legislators should finally do the same and hold city leaders responsible.

It’s time to say enough. If city officials are determined to kneel before anarchists and allow their cities to burn. If they choose to defund the thin blue line, let them do it on their own dime. It is critical that we force them to accept the consequences of their folly


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: defund; defundthepolice; gfloydriots; leftists; minneapolis; police

1 posted on 06/14/2020 4:57:13 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

NO FEDERAL FUNDING UNTIL THE INHABITANTS OF THESE BURNED OUT CITIES COME TO THEIR SENSES AND OUST THEIR RAT LEADERS


2 posted on 06/14/2020 5:01:16 AM PDT by ronnie raygun (silence is golden, I will not kneel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ronnie raygun

I agree


3 posted on 06/14/2020 5:03:53 AM PDT by snarkytart
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Why should taxpayers in Owatonna be forced to pay for the gross incompetence of elected officials in Minneapolis?

This is the same logic for reducing the SALT deduction.

Whether a state promotes outrages tax and spending or prefers to burn cities to the ground, the federal gov. should not be rewarding bad behavior by subsidizing it with other states' tax payer's hard earned money.

4 posted on 06/14/2020 5:19:41 AM PDT by deadrock (<img src="DonaldTrumpisthegreatest.jpeg" width="420">)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

It’s all jut Leftist Democrats making blacks into cannon fodder.


5 posted on 06/14/2020 5:46:04 AM PDT by caww
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ronnie raygun

I think your first three words are sufficient.


6 posted on 06/14/2020 6:09:37 AM PDT by MortMan (Shouldn't "palindrome" read the same forward and backward?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MortMan

The government has subsidized bad conduct for years with the funding of unwed mothers and single parent families.


7 posted on 06/14/2020 7:19:49 AM PDT by ActresponsiblyinVA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: ronnie raygun
NO FEDERAL FUNDING UNTIL THE INHABITANTS OF THESE BURNED OUT CITIES COME TO THEIR SENSES AND OUST THEIR RAT LEADERS

Or until Congress and the President give it to them. I predict hey will, they always do.

8 posted on 06/14/2020 12:42:10 PM PDT by itsahoot (Welcome to the New USA where Islam is a religion of peace and Christianity is a mental disorder.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Stop Subsidizing Irresponsibility

Stop Subsidizing bastardy; too!

9 posted on 06/14/2020 5:30:20 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
If you subsidize irresponsibility ANYTHING! you will surely get more of it.
10 posted on 06/14/2020 5:32:56 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Elsie

But I repeat myself.


11 posted on 06/14/2020 5:34:30 PM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson