Have people gone crazy? It would seem so to hear some citizens and even politicians and officeholders espouse the proposal to defund and disband law enforcement departments.
This madness is the result of the tragic death of George Floyd, a black man who was arrested on Memorial Day, May 25, by members of the Minneapolis Police Dept. Video clips of the event show a policeman, Derek Chauvin, holding the handcuffed Floyd down with his knee on the suspect’s throat while three other officers looked on. Floyd later died at a hospital. The four officers involved were fired. Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder, and the other three with aiding and abetting the murder.
Following Floyd’s death, protests erupted across the U.S., mostly in large cities, with chants of police brutality and black lives matter. Many of them became violent with looting, burning and rioting causing millions of dollars in damages, many injuries and a few deaths.
In the aftermath, extreme liberal groups and individuals began calling for cities and states to defund law enforcement agencies claiming that racial discrimination is rampant throughout the departments. Mayors, governors, city officials, members of city councils and state legislatures and even a few members of Congress jumped on the bandwagon urging the abolishment of city police departments and other agencies.
What a turn of events! Wasn’t it just a few months ago that Americans were praising essential workers, which included law officers, for their roles in fighting COVID 19? How fickle people can be.
Of course, such a proposal is underscored by its stupidity and ridiculousness. Without officers to enforce the laws there would be absolute chaos and rampant violence. Maybe that’s what these people want. America would return to the Wild West days with Judge Roy Bean law and survival of the fittest and those with the most guns.
But there may be a more sinister reason behind all this. This may be an effort to bring our country down spearheaded by foreign powers such as Russia or China or evil anarchists like George Soros who see a way to achieve their goal and blame it on racism and police brutality.
Make no mistake about it; the death of Floyd was a travesty of justice. But so were the riots. As the saying goes, two wrongs don’t make a right. Let the laws on the books be enforced with regard to both situations and move on to make a better country and improve on the rights sought by the Founding Fathers – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.