Look, I get it. Police have long behaved horribly towards minorities. The senseless deaths of black people at the hands of cops, specifically in situations where the use of ANY force is most likely not even prescribed, has to end. In the past week, the random beatings being dished out by the cops against protesters are abhorrent and unacceptable. I’m really upset about it as I’m sure most everyone on this site is.
But we are not going to win the battle to improve police behavior by suggesting that the country doesn’t need police at all. That is an argument that will be a complete non-starter with a huge majority of the country.
I can’t tell if the “defund the police” people are really trying to make that argument, but that is what the news media is running with.
www.cnn.com/…
We need BETTER policing and far FAR more accountability for police behavior. What we currently have is unacceptable. But I just don’t buy the argument that we don’t need ANY police. Redistribute chunks of policing funds to social services? Sure. De-militarize the police? Definitely. But if we let this message be co-opted into “Democrats want to get rid of all police” it will, IMO, be a big political loser.