I think those are some of the areas that concern us all. This is not the 1930's, but this generation seems to have forgotten what happened in the past.
Oh I'm well aware the loons said it, it just never worked out to where Bush did as they claimed he would. Reading comprehension is your friend.
LOL! Let me guess, YOU agreed with that one back then, right? (I know you'd never admit it now, since it didn't happen)
Honestly, I have ZERO problem with a less aggressive police force, even if that decrease in aggression means a decrease in their ability to "protect" us. Thats what my gun and my (soon to arrive) ccw permit are for. I would LOVE to see American citizens take a more active role IN THEIR OWN PROTECTION and to have police take a step back.
The problem occurs when an American citizen lives in a place like Baltimore, NYC, or Washington DC. The gun rights are so restricted that the citizenry does not have the ability to protect themselves. What good is a "right" to self defense without the ability to do so? In these situations people are basically held hostage.
Even reading this thread, it is obvious that some people are under a mistaken notion that the police have some duty to protect you. THEY DO NOT! The police may have a duty to protect a community at large, but the supreme court has ruled that they have NO SPECIFIC DUTY to protect individual citizens (see Warren v DC). The result of this can be seen in places like Detroit, where average police response time for all calls is 58 MINUTES, but if you live near Wayne State University that response time drops to 90 SECONDS. Here are citizens in the exact same city getting starkly different public services, based on where they live.
Americans need to start taking more responsibility to protect themselves. It is this abdication of their responsibility of self protection that leads to this mindset of wanting the police "do whatever it takes" to keep them safe. Of course, this "do whatever it takes" mentality really means "do whatever it takes, as long as you don't do it to me or my kids". I used to (along with most Americans) LOVE the movies about the brutal cop who gets "tough" on criminals, even if it means breaking the rules and violating their rights. Now, those movies disgust me.
When the police assist the public in providing for a safe community, they are public servants. When the police are expected to be the ONLY means a citizen has of protection, they are no longer public servants. Now they are your Daddy. And like good little toddlers, when need to leave the grownup stuff (like personal protection) to them and trust that they will keep us safe from the big bad men outside.
I'm not sure how successful I'm going to be at making my point, but here goes:
Since the time I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, our society has undergone a sea change. In that time, "Officer Friendly" has somehow disappeared and become "Officer JBT." At least some of this change seems to be cultural; a somewhat "fashionable" view promulgated by anti-war protesters (instigated by - surprise! - communists and their sympathizers) transformed "police officers" into "pigs."
So anti-war protestors were communist sympathizers? The anti-vietnam protests were completely justified, and quite frankly the only wars more pointless than the war in Vietnam are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (but at least the war in Vietnam did not throw the entire region into a state of unrest.) Senator McCarthy called, he says he was wrong.... sorry for the minor thread jacking.
There are so many things wrong with our criminal justice system right now. The sad thing is if people cared to learn and figure out whats wrong we could fix the system that has been going downhill since the 70's.
Neutering? No, bridling would be more like it. I, on the one hand would like to see an epidemic of Blue Flu, on the other would not want the Decent citizens to be left to the will of the (nonexistent , according to the mayor) thugs.
I am confident that the majority of the police are going to continue to work for the well being of the people, in spite of the calumny of the politicians and race baiters.
I had no idea that my city's police had been federalized. The cities are Fort Worth, Texas; Gary, Indiana; Stockton, California; Birmingham, Alabama; Minneapolis; and Pittsburgh.
Yes, Vietnam was a debacle, largely due to the way it was conducted (halfass engagements instead of total war) more than the reasons, but you're totally out of it if you can't see that by far the driving force behind the most aggressive protests against it were indeed driven by communists and their allies.
This was a war basically (however poorly conducted and however debatable the justification) against communists, so it goes to follow.
It was the exact same crowd who screeched and called Reagan a "war monger" for having the gall to win the Cold War.
I was there; I saw it from the front row.
The goal as I see it is the same for the police as well as the military. The leftists are attempting to destroy morale and drive the good people out of those institutions. In their place will be the true leftist believers who feel the ends justify the means.
The organization and funding for the original Vietnam war protests certainly did come from the communists, regardless of your view of the merits of such protests. Most of us who were military personnel during the war - whether we served in Vietnam or not - were well aware that the war was being mishandled, but that was "political" rather than tactical. And, in case you don't remember, Cambodia and Laos also fell to communist insurgents and literally millions died as a result (remember Pol Pot?). The Thais are still fighting a communist-inspired insurgency. "Domino Effect." The same sorts of issues drove the Iraq and Afghan conflicts; when casualties started to mount in Iraq, the Democrats sought to sabotage the war effort and certainly encouraged anti-Bush opposition to the war. Notice that once Barak Obama took office, the daily casualty counts disappeared, and when he decided to commit more troops to Afghanistan ala the "Bush Surge" in Iraq, nary a murmur seeped out of the national news media. Doesn't matter if a conflict is "justified" or "unjustified" (usually depends upon whether you win or not) no country is going to win a war unless the government and the people stand behind the military. And when the military forces are hamstrung by Rules Of Engagement which restrict their ability to defeat the enemy and which compromise their safety for no tactical and strategic purpose, there will be no possibility of victory. George Bush warned us that we were in a "generational war" and it seems that we aren't capable of visualizing or conducting such a war.So anti-war protestors were communist sympathizers? The anti-vietnam protests were completely justified, and quite frankly the only wars more pointless than the war in Vietnam are the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (but at least the war in Vietnam did not throw the entire region into a state of unrest.) Senator McCarthy called, he says he was wrong.... sorry for the minor thread jacking.
The craftiest communists were the ones who made Americans think it is patriotic to enslave themselves with debt, for lost causes in the Third World.