We’re not yet socialist but we have long been authoritarian and the authoritarianism is getting worse.
Where this authoritarianism hits us first is when we interact with the government’s enforcers: law enforcement.
Over the past thirty years we’ve seen many if not most police departments morph into paramilitaries who no longer ‘serve and protect’ but who rule and control. Some sheriff’s departments have followed suit while other sheriff’s departments remain the community protectors they’ve always been.
It has become normal for police to force their way into people’s homes without a warrant, it has become normal for them to illegally demand ID from people as an intimidation tactic, it has become normal for police to use deadly force in typical traffic stops (see the Arkansas traffic stop last month), it has become normal for police to threaten and beat law abiding photographers in public even when said photographer is also a police officer.
Until we refuse to unconditionally “Back the Blue” unless the police obey the laws they enforce then we are conditioning America to submit to authoritarianism.
If we submit to tyranny in our neighborhoods then it’s all much easier to submit to tyranny in our state capitols and in Washington.
I hate to borrow a phrase from the leftists but if we are to put an end to the authoritarian state that will certainly facilitate a socialist nightmare then we must “Think Nationally and Act Locally”.
You labeled it well... it looks like socialism. the worst they can do is to get the whole of government to be corrupt. lady justice is gone. the safe guards put into our government are in the enemy’s camp.
“We’re not yet socialist but we have long been authoritarian “
Of course we are socialist. The collective is always placed ahead of the individual. The economy is centrally planned in numerous ways with some “private” ownership as long as it serves the collective. Medicine is 75% socialized between medicare, medicaid, obamacare, and the prescription drug plan. Social Security is socialist with it’s means testing, and lack of ownership of your account. How about growing a raisin? They all must feed into one common collective and cannot sell their wares elsewhere.
How about the official state atheism and militant hatred of Christianity?
The military draft/registration is known as “selective service” since Wilson created it. Why? Because he claimed the nation “collectively” volunteered via the Congress declaring war, and that he was only “selecting” soldiers from a giant pool of volunteers. Add in a myriad of new deal and great society programs which are steeped in socialism.
Americans swim in a sea of socialism and claim they are not socialist. We are.
As my dad used to say, “if this isn’t socialism, we can sure make do with it till a real socialist comes along.