(07-04-2020 08:57 AM)flash3200 Wrote:  As a heavily right leaning libertarian, I fully support the defund the police initiative. It blows my mind that these so called "conservatives" that are supposedly proponents of limited government and individual rights are in support of the sprawling and unfettered militarization of local and state law enforcement. We effectively have standing armies that harass and disenfranchise our population along with supporting a prison industry that imprisons more people than any county outside of China and North Korea. How can you support that? We should get rid of 90% of the system top to bottom, Feds to local.
From Waco to the sham prosecution of Trump by an out of control justice department, so-called conservatives cry like little children about out of control government reach. When we actually get a movement to do something about it, they back off because they dont like the other side. You cant make this stuff up. I hate marxists too, but willing to work with them on this.

I am not willing to work with Marxists on anything. Their whole MO, going back to Marx's dialectic materialism, is to get part of what they want this year, then a bit more next year, without ever giving anything in return.

To those who call for compromise, I say this. Compromise means give and take--I give up something to you, and you give up something to me. So what do you want, and what are you willing to give up to get it?

As far as police, what I've seen is that an inordinate amount of incidents resulting in deaths of officers or citizens--white or black--result from traffic stop situations that escalate. So I would turn over all traffic enforcement to cameras and electronic means. I realize that's a libertarian's heart attack stuff, but practically it seems to make a lot of sense. You get more consistent enforcement of traffic laws, rather than just catching those where an officer happens to be there, and you eliminate a situation that seems to cause far more problems than it solves.

I would also legalize and tax marijuana, and decriminalize the rest, so that one of the bigger (if not the biggest) sources of disparity between whites and blacks goes away. Treat it as a disease rather than a criminal violation. In fact, simple drug cases might be a pretty good place to experiment with unarmed officers and social workers.

With those two changes, the number of officers required should be reduced substantially. With that, you can afford to pay them more and to require better training and higher standards.