Posted on 07/23/2014 2:59:04 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Imagine if I were to tell you there is a large group of government employees, with generous salaries and ridiculously cushy retirement pensions covered by the taxpayer, who enjoy incredible job security and are rarely held accountable even for activities that would almost certainly earn the rest of us prison time. When there is proven misconduct, these government employees are merely reassigned and are rarely dismissed. The bill for any legal settlements concerning their errors? It, too, is covered by the taxpayers. Their unions are among the strongest in the country.
No, I’m not talking about public-school teachers.
I’m talking about the police.
We conservatives recoil at the former; yet routinely defend the latter — even though, unlike teachers, police officers enjoy an utter monopoly on force and can ruin — or end — one’s life in a millisecond.
For decades, conservatives have served as stalwart defenders of police forces. There have been many good reasons for this, including long memories of the post-countercultural crime wave that devastated, and in some cases destroyed, many American cities; conservatives’ penchant for law and order; and Americans’ widely shared disdain for the cops’ usual opponents. (“Dirty hippies being arrested? Good!” is not an uncommon sentiment.) Although tough-on-crime appeals have never been limited to conservative politicians or voters, conservatives instinctively (and, it turned out, correctly) understood that the way to reduce crime is to have more cops making more arrests, not more sociologists identifying more root causes. Conservatives are rightly proud to have supported police officers doing their jobs at times when progressives were on the other side.
But it’s time for conservatives’ unconditional love affair with the police to end.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
This article is behind the times. Many conservatives I know stopped knee-jerk defending the police years ago.
At the very least, it should be easier to fire police officers than it currently is and police departments need to do a much better job of screening police applicants. If things don’t change, the police will lose the confidence of the public and will deserve to.
I hope the author of this article doesn’t have a dog.
Guns don’t kill. Police Do.
I support the police in my local town - because I know them, went to school with some of them, and can talk to them. Beyond that, NO.
Just like my local government - I support it because I know the people in it, and can observe, and influence in my small way, their deliberations. At the other end of the spectrum is the Federal Government.
Policing and government go hand-in-hand. Once it goes beyond the reach of the average citizen, it is corrupt.
Innocent until proven guilty.
Dupe thread :)
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3183799/posts
Lots of bootlickers over yonder are upset with NR over this article.
Never let the government unionize against you.
Who can stop the police today? It will take a huge, long term national campaign, to get the police back under the control of the citizens.
It will be the democrats and the left against the conservatives, it won’t start completely that way at first, but in time, as the battle lines harden and the politics of the situation become more clear, we will discover that unionized city and state employees are a force of the left.
IE: take it out of their pension or departmental funding or pay (or all of the above) and you'll see shenanigans end real quick. Or auction off their MRAPs.
When a country fights a long series of low-intensity wars, soldiers are expected to act like cops, and later cops act like soldiers.
Everyone has black nomex kook gear and MRAPS; equipment is driving patrolling decisions.
EVERYONE will get an eye put out.
We need more adults —get rid of the gear.
What I’m hearing in this is every cop is guilty every time....
I think we are all smart enough to look at the facts and consider the source.
I have no time for those who leach off of society by illegal means and then think they can bitch when they get caught. Fight the cops get hurt or dead, be stupid, pay the price and that goes for both males and females.
I’m more upset about them automatically shooting dogs...
get rid of the gear... I’m willing to bet we should make some guns illegal too just because they look a certain way...
I really thought this thread was about how cops act not how you think they are going to act because you don’t like the way they look...
They can protect themselves with whatever gear they want to. This is about how they act and treat others.
| It’s Time for Conservatives to Stop Defending Police | ||
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07/22/2014 9:32:19 PM PDT · by chessplayer · 144 replies
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“Who can defend this?”
Sean Hannity, last night.
The article is spot on. I serve on a public school board and it took hours of persuasion of other “conservative” members to convince them the school district should not start a police force. Every political subdivision in my area including city, county, port authority, marina, urban school disticts, lifeguards, game wardens, environmental enforcement, and so on ad nauseum, all have police forces. And guess what? They all have SWAT teams, body armor, automatic weapons, riot gear and armored vehicles.
The police state is upon us and it is going to take a major upheavel to reverse this trend. No politician anywhere wants to be portrayed as anti-police.
Next to massive illegal immigration, police militarization is the greatest threat to American citizen’s safety and welfare today.
TC
The gear, big-budgets, fancy training and civil forfeiture is GOING TO THEIR MINDS.
It is totally transforming the relationship between the tax-payers and the cops --we're a totally different country.
"Hey! It's a FREE COUNTRY..!"
"If after 9-11 we change the way we live JUST A LITTLE then THE TERRORISTS WIN..!"
We NO LONGER hear people say those two things.
The “police can do no wrong” group on FR has faded away pretty much.
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