Defund the Police?
The phrase "defund the police" was used frequently after the George Floyd riots. It is once again front and center as a DSA election pitch. But what is it really saying, and what might it be hiding?
“Defund the police” is a slogan that activists have introduced to argue for relocating funds from police departments to other non-policing forms of public safety and community support options. Some of its proponents call for full divestment and abolishment of traditional policing systems and methods on a national scale.
While the concept of “law and order” used to be part of both the Republican and Democrat Party platforms, this specific position has now come to be associated with “left-wing and Democratic Party policies” (according to left-leaning Wikipedia).
Where Does “Defund the Police” Come From?
The slogan first became popular during the George Floyd (Black Lives Matter/BLM) protests/riots that originated in Minneapolis and swept across the country in May of 2020.
Those who are critical of national and/or local policing functions argue that its history is rooted in racist practices citing slave patrols (an argument made by the 1619 Project), enforcement of Jim Crow laws, and repression of the Civil Rights movement. Besides the argument that defunding police budgets counters racism, there are also some who argue that defunding the police will lead to a significant reduction in crime.
The Proponents
Some of the main proponents of defunding the police include:
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) – the website of this organization identifies abolishing the police as one of its positions.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – the New York Congresswoman (known as “AOC”) and prominent member of the DSA has supported the “defund the police” movement as relates to the NYPD. She has not called to fix the department, but rather to shift money into community services like housing, youth programs and healthcare.
Ilhan Omar – the Minnesota Congresswoman and member of the DSA has supported the “defund the police” movement as relates to the Minneapolis police department. She has not made calls to fix the department, but rather in a manner similar to AOC, to shift money into community health, housing, and violence prevention.
Abdul El-Sayed – the recent Democrat nominee and informal DSA member from Michigan for the U.S. Senate has explicitly called to defund the police, however he has since deleted related social media posts and now states that he never called for defunding.
Francesca Hong – this DSA member and once-leading Democratic candidate for Governor in Wisconsin (who recently lost her bid to represent Democrats in the upcoming election) historically supported the defunding of police, but then later reversed her position by stating that she had become “serious about public safety.”
Hasan Piker – this far-Left political commentator and streamer has spoken positively of the “defund the police” movement.
Although the elder statesman, Vermont Senator, and senior philosophical leader of the Democratic Socialists Bernie Sanders has consistently rejected the “defund the police” idea, he has said that he hopes for the abolition of prisons, thereby making his position inconsistent (or confusing at best).
Policing is Racist?
Police departments across the country are staffed with personnel from all races and beliefs. This includes those who hold positions at the leadership level. Might there be racists among them? Probably, but you wouldn’t shut down a functioning community hospital because a racist doctor was found to be employed as a staff member or manager there (although it is possible that a Marxist might do so, as they have a tendency to see people as groups or classes and not as individuals). In such a case however, the reality is that racism is the problem; not the entire group, nor the function itself. It should be obvious to most that viewing people as groups as opposed to people as individuals is in itself a form of racism (it used to be called “stereotyping,” although this term appears to have been successfully removed from our American cultural vocabulary).
The solution to the problem of bad policing is simple: for those who are acting inappropriately, remove them. If it’s an entire department, replace it.
Policing isn’t inherently bad; rather, its people who are merely potentially bad.
Defunding Police = a Reduction in Crime?
Will defunding a police function that has been labeled as “racist” lead to significantly less crime, as its proponents claim (possibly even to the point where prisons can ultimately be eliminated)? Of course not.
Removing from the streets those individuals who catch and/or stop criminals (both the tactical and strategic lawbreakers) will not cause the criminals—nor the crime—to disappear. It is true, however, that it could cause the statistics on crime to be reduced (in typical leftist fashion), since there would be no one assigned to identify and record the crimes.
But wouldn’t the victims of crime still be around to evidence criminal activity? Yes, but first consider that there will be no one to report the crimes to. Second, even in cases where the crimes are documented, if the liberal media chooses not to report crime to the public at large, it will be as if the crimes never happened (as is already the case today with many of the major news networks—recall, for example, the television reporting of “mostly peaceful protests” with the city shown burning in the background). Be aware that another Leftist tactic that could be employed after a defunding the police is a re-definition or re-classification of the word “crime.” If the definition of crime is changed so as to not include traditional and conventional criminal activity, it will be as if crime as we know it has somehow “magically” disappeared.
Background/Reality
As a reality check, there is no sovereign country or major city on earth that operates without a police force or law enforcement agency.
Even Vatican City, often cited as having no police force, has such a group. It is called the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps and is used by the Vatican for day-to-day internal policing and traffic control, working alongside the Swiss Guard, a protective security unit that was established in 1506 by Pope Julius II. Iceland is often cited as another example, but although it is true that their police force does not carry firearms, an active, highly trained national police force does in fact exist. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, three countries that Democratic Socialists such as Bernie Sanders often point to as “ideal socialistic societies,” also have police forces.
Even communist countries, including the former Soviet Union and China, (i.e., “utopias” to the DSA and the far-Left) have police forces.
So why should the U.S. not have police when everyone else has them? And it is also appropriate to ask: are all countries of the world that have police forces considered racist?
Defund the Fire Department?
If it were true that the logic applied by the Left for defunding the police is correct (i.e., if defunding “the thing that it is intended to stop something but instead makes it worse” somehow corrects the problem), then—as silly as it sounds—defunding fire departments across the country would also be a wise next step.
But it would not be, and defunding the fire department is just as ridiculous an idea as defunding the police.
What is Really at Play
The call to defund the police on a national scale by the BLM organization came out of their call for action during the George Floyd incident. Realize that for those who are advocating for activism that includes violence, riotous activity is necessarily limited by the existence of police personnel and police tools/resources. Remove the police, and the promoted insurgent activity becomes even more effective. Those who support Marxism know exactly what they are doing (and it should therefore be of no surprise that two of the three co-founders, Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza, are avowed Marxists).
A Foolish Idea
Every country and every major city in the world have police resources. In modern history, the idea of defunding the police has never been tried. New ideas are not bad, but foolish ones are.
Based on history, reality, common sense, and human nature, we know that crime will surely rise if there is no one around to keep law and order. Furthermore, if policing truly is racist, then every country and every major city in the world is guilty of racism.
Photo Credit- Cowboyswire.usa. com, abc11, Mediate. com, Planet News and Duluth News Tribune.
The fact that Mr. Shumaker listed other so-called Socialist countries like Norway or Commie ones like China as having police departments, and no one there is calling for their defunding there shows the grift in this whole BLM ("Buy Large Mansions") and DSA movements. It is a front, as it almost always is with the semantically overloaded words and terms of the Left, for their real goals which they will discuss in their meetings or in online conference chats. There is always something behind, these people's "behinds" and in the case of "Defund the Police" they are making use of a uniquely American history of race relations to enact the same old tired Marxist revolutionary goals of eliminating our way of life and replacing it with whatever ideologically driven fantasy they have of an ideal American life. The goals is always the same, the grift is the variable.
I think the Republican candidates are really going to hit this point hard. Everything about the Defend the Police (and presumably replace them with social workers) is totally bonkers. So many of our large cities have become absolute pits because low-lives will commit crimes with impunity. It's just a host of human parasites who feed off the wealth of the city and make the place unlivable.
Honestly, this problem has gotten so bad, Republicans should go on the offensive and push for a beefed up, stricter law enforcement. Build more prisons, hire more cops, impeach leftist judges, and shame these pieces of trash for the whole public to see. Along with mass deportation, mass incarceration would trigger a true American Renaissance. The bleeding hearts were wrong and they have no business even running for office. No one should sympathize with criminals.