We humans have always had a somewhat tenuous relationship with our police.
That's because we tend to love them when we don't need them, and hate them when we do. And that's because we humans tend to want to do the kinds of things that are against the law. The fun things. The kinds of things that get you locked up.
And we know that our police and sheriffs and marshals and constables are all built upon a paramilitary model. There are corporals and sergeants and lieutenants and captains and even generals to tell the troops, the underlings, what to do.
It's "take that hill" in the Army, but "take down that criminal" in downtown Buffalo.
But those same troops are kept in check by those same leaders, keeping those in uniform who are Hell-bent towards misusing the authority that same uniform and badge gives them.
It could always have become an "us vs. them" mentality by those we permit to wear guns and carry tasers. Who are now afraid of us, their employers-of-record. Who are fond of barking out upon first approaching, "Get your hands out of your pockets."
It's upon that basis that I "pen" this little essay...
Historians will tell us that Adolph Hitler spent the last year and a half of his life in his Berlin bunker.
He received only the news he wanted to hear, and made decisions thereon that thus secured his defeat. As the Allies crept ever closer to the Reich's Feurer's Berlin HQ, those decisions grew ever more eratic and flawed. He was a crazed meth addict with the walls closing in from all sides. His condition grew to be known as a "Bunker mentality."
More recent examples of what sort of behavior a bunker mentality could cause would include th 1992 FBI raid-gone-wrong against David Koresh and his Branch Davidians. He died along with nearly 100 of his followers that hot Texas day. A bunker mentality caused him to refuse to give up even in the face of obvious defeat.
As a Professional Observer of My Fellow Man, and Woman, and Other (Taxifornia, doncha' know), it strikes me that the effort by our Biggest and Bluest Cities to "Defund the Police" a couple of years back could well have "screwed the pooch," as Billy Bob Clinton used to say. That's because the delicate between maintaining the Constitutional rights of our Public and the 3% sworn to keep them honest could well have gone off the rails.
Think about it: We never really liked cops, but we were happy somebody would do the messy job of corraling and jailing our most fearsome felons. But we never wanted them to write us a ticket for speeding or knock on our door and demand we quiet down our party.
That's the delicate balancing act of which I spoke. So now the employers of nearly 62% of all our cops, those Big Blue mostly Northern cities gave them the collective "finger." They wanted to adopt socialistic policies that needed no policing. As an experiment. An experiment that would put their cops, their long-time employees and citizens, out of their jobs. Tens of thousands of them. The fools. And so that delicate balance was destroyed. Perhaps forever.
More than 42% of all NYC's cops have now retired or resigned and walked away since their commie Board of Supervisors voted to take $6,000,000 out of their budget. They bolted most often to the nearby suburbs, which are much more friendly to those sworn to keep them safe. And usually pay more, I might add. That's more than 3,500 time-tested, seasoned NYC cops, my friends! Gone! To Florida, and Texas, and South Carolina, most likely, where they'll earn more and be treated better.
There are so few cops left in San Franpoopco, they're down 42%, that our Boy Guv Newsom has called in the National Guard and our California Highway Patrol to try and clean up the mess he himself caused. They'll be arriving just about the time I push "print" on this missive.
As I've reported before, the past Sheriff of Lost Angeles County, Alex Valenzuela, recommended that the citizens of his County stop shopping in the downtown area. But if they must, he added, please dress down and leave your Rolexes and Lamborghinis at home. I can't help but believe his merchants didn't want to hear that no matter how true it's been proven to be. So much so they funded the campaign to vote him out of office.
The news just broke, BTW, that Nordstrom's is closing both of its remaining San Fran stores. After 35 years. They blame increased theft and assaults on their associates. This follows Whole Foods closing their downtown SFO flagship store, after less than one year of operation. They report they'd had to call the cops 562 times in the preceding year. Won't be long there will be nothing left to steal. Or to buy...
Proof that if you fail to punish small crime, pretty soon you'll get big crime.
I used to joke that there'd be a time when there's nothing left here in California but sign twirlers and Starbucks baristas. Turns out my "joke" proved not to be so funny.
There's an old Arab proverb: "You let a camel get his nose under the tent, pretty soon you have a camel in your tent."
Just imagine the decisions those cops are now making, most often in self-defense I'm thinking, that are based on protecting themselves from a nasty public. A public that has PROVEN it doesn't appreciate them. And now a Big Bunch of them are gone! Maybe the best of them, gone! Perhaps leaving only those who are more hardened and less willing to grant "We the People" our Constitutional Rights. Maybe more likely to do the things we often blame the cops of doing.
How ironic!
If any of you out there have the ear of the commies who caused this grief, please inform them they played with our toys...and that they broke them.
My spleen is now vented. Thanks so much for reading.
