Posted on 12/05/2014 2:29:57 AM PST by granada
Imagine that Eric Garner had been white. Imagine that he’d been living in Idaho. Imagine that the law-enforcement officers who killed him had been federal agents.
His death would be a Tea Party crusade.
Think about it. The police hassled Garner because he had a history of selling untaxed cigarettes. It’s the kind of big-government intrusion that drives Tea Partiers nuts. One of the events that helped launch the Tea Party, in fact, came in January 2009, when activists from Young Americans for Liberty donned American Indian garb to protest the soda taxes proposed by then-New York Governor David Patterson.
Garner responded to being hassled with a statement of “don’t tread on me” anti-government defiance: “I was just minding my own business. Every time you see me you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today!” A tussle ensued. The police put Garner in a chokehold, and he died.
The Garner case bears some resemblance to that of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who this spring prevented Bureau of Land Management agents from impounding his cattle after he refused to pay government grazing fees. Like Garner, Bundy was engaged in a form of commerce he believed the government should not tax. Like Garner, Bundy resisted law enforcement’s efforts to punish him for it. For many conservatives, this made Bundy a hero and the government that sought to penalize him a tyranny. Right-wing activists, including some Republican legislators, flocked to Bundy’s ranch as he stared down federal agents, and Nevada Senator Dean Heller dubbed these vigilantes “patriots.” “At the heart of this issue,” declared Fox’s Sean Hannity, is “my belief that our government is simply out of control.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
If Eric Garner were a Tea Party member, liberals would hail it as a victory of big government.
I’ve read quite a large number of conservative columns on the subject, and I can’t remember one that approves of the cops’ actions.
The grazing fees Bundy refused to pay were not a tax. They were a form of rent for grazing his cattle on land that did not belong to him.
Just as he'd have to pay a private citizen for permission to graze cattle on his land.
We can have a discussion about whether the fees Bundy was being ordered to pay were excessive. arbitrary or bad policy, but not that he had some sort of "right" to graze his cattle without paying the fees.
Garner died because he had a heart attack there on the side walk and nobody administered CPR. He wasn’t choked to death. This aspect of the incident is being....obfuscated for some reason. The cop just took him down so they could cuff him and process him.
This guy has his hatband pulled too tight.
To my knowledge conservatives have never rallied to the cop’s side in the Eric Garner case. Far from it. This has been framed as an example of police over-reach and excess.
He’s got his guns trained on the wrong target and doesn’t care.
Didn’t De Blasio and the the his fellow Commies in the New York legislator cause Mr. Garner’s death by making someone who sells loose cigarettes a criminal. This law against loose cigarettes was enacted in 2014?
How fat is Cliven Bundy or the soda guy?
Conservatives don’t care about black people.
Michael Brown was a “gentle giant.”
Trayvon Martin was hunted and murdered by George Zimmerman.
Welcome to Leftist Reality.
I think the larger lesson to be learned in this is - when the govt is cracking down on issues like selling loose cigarettes - any actions by the enforces is going to be explained away if citizens are harmed due to the top down approach of leadership...NY City govt is a prime example of doing what it needs to do through LE officers - and therefore the common citizen needs to stop engaging in whatever “issue” is being enforced.
I’m not saying this is legal - i’m saying that top down orders and those making them will protect their enforcers should something go wrong - and this case is an excellent example of such.
All other elements in this case of Garner are irrelevant at this point. Living in places like NY City and trying to make a living is dangerous if ones employment is going against the “top down” decision makers. Having a socialist mayor isn’t going to make things better for small crimes - they have their platform established and have already worked out the solution if citizens get harmed in the enforcement of these petty crimes.
That should be a major concern for anyone. Basically, do not give them the bullets they need to fire at you - disengage from the current activity being enforced and find something else to make a living.
Totally aside from performance of the cops, if Garner were white, hardly anyone would have even heard about it. I am sure JJ and Sharpton would not have batted an eye.
This article is the MSM propaganda result of misinformation being applied in logic as brilliantly as anything the USSR ever produced. The handlers must be proud!
What a lame premise. Yes, there is a superficial resemblance between Eric Garner and Cliven Bundy in that they both defied authority and taxes are part of the story. But unlike Beinart, or more precisely, unlike Beinart’s conservative strawmen, most conservatives are able to see through the superficiality of it pretty easily.
If this had been a white guy and if it turned out he had a rap sheet a mile long like Garner, including eight previous citations for the offense he was arrested for, and if it had been the local community that had asked the police to do something about his nuisance behavior, and if he had resisted arrest thereby invoking a forceful response from the police, and if his poor health were a factor in his death, then you would see pretty much the same response you’re seeing from most conservatives about Gardner.
Unlike cheap point makers like Beinart, conservatives try to deal honestly with reality.
Many are siding with the cop. Many aren’t. It’s a toss up, precisely why the grand jury decided a “beyond reasonable doubt” couldn’t be reached in a full case.
To the author’s point, which the far right is making a stink about, is that the transgression should not be a tax issue, and tax issues shouldn’t be handled this way - and contrary to the author’s point, the concern is being raised without regard to race.
this country might not survive his second term..
Don't know about cigarettes, but selling untaxed liquor has been a federal crime since 1791. It has often been enforced with extreme violence, including an army of 13,000 men led by Washington himself.
I remain color-blind as far as behavior.
If Garner had been white, acting in the same manner, the same action should have been taken to arrest him.
Unless behavior is now equal to race...
Not quite right. Liquor was taxed intermittently from the Founding to the Civil War, continuously since.
On the threads I've read, it seems many posters are defending the police. I'm surprised. This case is one of a local government going way overboard to collect an unfair tax.
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.