Posted on 06/09/2020 7:48:26 AM PDT by Kaslin
As police departments across the country come under attack, the GOP must be strong in their defense.
If you are watching the news or thumbing through Twitter you probably have the sense that the police are not very popular at the moment. In fact, you would probably be wrong. Over the years polls have shown that local police forces are overwhelmingly popular. Nationally the police rank third in a list of most trusted institutions behind only the military and small business.
Gallup tracking polls show wide support for police, as did a 2019 Civis poll. It may well be true that now in the midst of the protests approval of police has been somewhat diminished, but this is not the first police killing of a black person to become a huge national story. And yet faith in police keeps relatively steady.
As many in the Democratic Party take aim at the nation’s police departments, threatening them with abolition or defunding, Republicans must be rock solid in their support for the institution of policing. And they should do so not just because its politically popular, but because of why its politically popular.
There are a few things that most people believe about the police and policing all at once. They know that it is dangerous work; they know that if they ever need the police the police will be there, and they know that the police have a power unlike any other force in our legal system. Pertaining to that last one, people also know that when so much power is entrusted, abuse of that power is to some extent inevitable.
Those who oppose the police, who seek its demise or abolition, exist between two utopias. On the one hand, they believe that order can be maintained without the power being used to maintain it ever being abused. On the other hand, they believe that without police power, crime would simply wither on the vine. Both of these assertions are absurd. They represent a profound misunderstanding of human nature and the role of law to constrain it.
In reality, while disparities exist in the treatment of Americans by the police, the claim that police forces are irredeemably racist is just false. Most major police forces are far more diverse, not just in rank and file but in leadership, than many of the progressive outlets and organizations that criticize them. Underlying conditions in some poor black communities make police interactions more common and sometimes tense, but this does not point to widespread racism.
So far President Trump, who held a law enforcement round table at the White House Monday, and congressional Republicans have been sounding the right note. But it must be full-throated. It cannot be stipulated to that there is some scourge of systemic racism in law enforcement. There isn’t and Republicans need to be honest about that even at the risk of being called racists themselves. They also must force candidates like Joe Biden to answer calls to defund or abolish police.
As absurd debates over what “defund the police” does and doesn’t mean happen on the left, the right must not only support but celebrate the Americans who put their lives on the line everyday and come to your house whenever you need their help. People like the police, and they should. They are the line between order and chaos. Pretending otherwise, suggesting social workers will solve crimes with feelings charts is ridiculous and unserious.
Sometimes in politics an opportunity presents itself, which is both politically popular and the right stance to take. The GOP has such a moment here. Notwithstanding the relentless assault both physical and rhetorical from the left against cops they are held in high regard. And they need politicians to have their back in order to do their job.
A certain Romneyite breed of conservative will pay lip service to the shibboleths of the left when approaching the issue of police. This must be rejected. It is not rooted in reality but rather in a vain game of virtue signaling. Republicans must be resolute in their support of the police; if they are the voters will listen. This is a gift horse they must not look in the mouth.
The two parties are poised to take very different views on the issue of the police, an issue that was once more or less bipartisan and pro-law enforcement. Now we have Democrats who take a knee in protest to those who protect and serve. Republicans on the other hand must stand tall and proud in support of the men and women of every race, creed, religion, and sexual orientation who keep our towns and cities safe, free, and functioning.
Nixon ran as the ‘Law and order’ candidate in 68 and won..............
Unions will vote how they are told.
Republicans need to be the voice of The People
Good point, do the Dems want to protect their financial supporters, the Police Unions........ Or protect their black supporters that are rolling over to the Republicans?
This is a winning issue for Trump and conservatives in general.
Only the hard left is buying this nonsense of defending the police and doing away with police.
Many liberals would be afraid to say so out loud, but they do not want to abolish police. This business of defending the police is a hard left race-baiting issue.
David..... Republicans must be and are the party of Americans.
The Blue cities are no longer America and haven’t been for a long time.
Tucker got it right yesterday - Democrats want total control over the police, not to defund them. They feel police departments are too full of conservatives with guns, and want to replace those individuals with their own loyalists.
Why not print this up and pass around in your precinct
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The democrat controlled media deliberate miss portraying the six foot seven inch 200 plus pound Floyd as an innocent black who was being forceably restrained because he was black. When He was legitimately arrested for passing a counterfeit $20 dollar bill he was resisting arrest and was a threat if not secured. But the media was not mentioning his size or reporting that Floyd was removed from a squad car because he was acting up under the influence of drugs and also later was discovered to have COVID 19. Which suggests his physical condition may have led to his death which the media turned into a murder change and a charge of serious abuse by police because of police efforts that were tried to get him who under control. Check out
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3853159/posts
Further confirmation here
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3850910/posts Floyd on drugs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3851693/posts (confirm had covid19)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3852373/posts (2 cops were trainees)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3852275/posts#16 neck hold use world wide
This posting has comments that reveals that both the arresting officer and Floyd knew each other and had worked together in bar security
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3851100/posts
The results of politically induced miss reporting incidents where blacks have resisted legitimate arrest began to be used earlier during and after the post Zimmmerman trial, then on to the Ferguson episode. Obama’s abuse of the “Bully Pulpit” which seemed to promote resistance to legitimate arrest led to black gangs attacking non blacks found innocently traversing black neighborhoods and to a score of murders or life changing injuries and later attacks of theft and vandalism on local businesses as well as attacks and murders of police officers during that period
“Unions will vote how they are told.
Republicans need to be the voice of The People”
Agreed-
“The Police” is a bunch of union thugs.
Law & Order can be accomplished by The People, if the Goobermint would get out of the way.
Party of the police, yes. Party of the police Unions, no.
Minnesota hard left is transforming the idea of “police” into civilian Sharia courts. Muslim community tried this in Irving TX a few years back - remember the clock boy?
We can’t have two different legal systems - we must support law enforcement according to passed laws, not the delusional interpretations by some rogue Muslim scholars.
Well if unions vote as they are told I hope we are least have the police unions in the r column.
The RNC needs to seriously get a nationwide advertising campaign going: “Never vote for ANY Democrat”. Local, County, State and Federal, the Democrats have lost all legitimacy as a political party.
I think you can be pro-police while at the same time acknowledging that there are some bad cops and some questionable policies that need addressing.
This nation was founded as a nation of law and order. When the law breaks down we cease to be the nation we are meant to be and our enemies have won their great victory.
However, the police cannot be given a blank check, either:
The natural disposition is always to believe. It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity, and they very seldom teach it enough. The wisest and most cautious of us all frequently gives credit to stories which he himself is afterwards both ashamed and astonished that he could possibly think of believing. — Adam Smith, Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759)
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins.As a general matter skepticism - neither cynicism nor naiveté - is prudent.Society is produced by our wants,Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one . . .
and government by our wickedness;the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections,
the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices.The one encourages intercourse,
the other creates distinctions.The first is a patron,
the last a punisher.
For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest . . . — Thomas Paine,Common Sense (1776)
You cannot have liberty without order.
Umm...NO.
Union cops and union teachers and union gov workers and college perfessers have made their beds.
Now, they’ve got to sleep in their crap. No pity for them. None.
*This is a winning issue for Trump and conservatives in general.
Only the hard left is buying this nonsense of defending the police and doing away with police.
Many liberals would be afraid to say so out loud, but they do not want to abolish police. This business of defending the police is a hard left race-baiting issue.*
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