The State of Police in America

     We must first acknowledge there is a problem with police in America before we can bring about a solution to the issues involving citizen’s interactions with members of the law enforcement community. I do not write this article to accuse.  We must work together as a community to make our interaction with members of law enforcement a safe and positive experience.  The rash of police abuses is not new, it’s just that with the emergence of new technologies a light has been cast on this issue.  We can no longer ignore the abuses that people in a position of power inflict on the guilty and innocent alike.  A person in a position of power has an obligation to be more morally centered and professional than the average person.  They are paid to protect and serve but they treat the American populace like an invading army would treat the population of those they are invading.  I have no doubt that the use of force sometimes becomes necessary in the course of performing the duties of law enforcement but these individuals have a responsibility to use force only when it is absolutely warranted, but we hear and see story after story of force being used as a first response instead of a last resort.  We as a society cannot continue to accept this.

We cannot lie to ourselves and claim that we are civilized when such atrocities can occur without punishment in a country that calls itself the land of the free.  But freedom does not come without a price and if we want it we must be willing to pay that price in order to preserve the liberty that the founding fathers risked everything to attain.  We have sold our values and our freedom for the promise of security, but it is a false security and untold numbers of citizens are starting to realize this.  We have become the enemy.

We must understand the long term effects this will have on our country, no nation falls into a dystopia overnight, it is a process, a process that is done with the consent of the citizenry.  By the time the population realizes what has happened they no longer can consent to anything or disagree with anything, they have become slaves.  Slaves in a system of our own making. Ruled over by a group of elites that we trusted to protect us.

So many speak of revolution, but revolution is a bloody and awful business.  A true revolution can be accomplished with no blood shed.  There is nothing more frightening to a dictatorship than citizens who reject their authority.  Gandhi had the right idea.  Peaceful resistance is a very powerful method of revolution.  Untold numbers were awakened to the truth of the British monarchy because of the peaceful actions of the Indians.  I do not think that a better solution could have been attained through violence, it is hard to demonize an enemy that refuses to fight.  That is what we must do if we truly want to reclaim the country and the values that have been lost. aybe these values never existed in the first place, maybe it is a dream we hope to one day attain.  Whatever the reason for revolution, a revolution must occur in this country but it cannot be a revolution of bloodshed, it must be a revolution of peace, a revolution of the power of morality over the corruption of authority.