When the residents of an area allow crime and societal decay to go unchecked, there's nothing politicians or police can do about it.
Just look at what has happened to so many of the big cities around the country.
It's not about "too few police", as if that were even a thing. It's about the regular people who live there allowing bad things to happen and simply accepting it or expecting someone else to do something about it. Part of the problem is lifelong training to "let the police deal with it".
They are shirking their responsibility. It's a losing strategy.
Police and prosecutors make this decline worse if they spend any time and effort trying to punish those who take responsibility for life, liberty, and property in their sphere.
If hordes of looters know they'll face no effective defense from the owners and employees of a business, no police force or law can convince them to behave. They'll run rampant, destroying property and endangering lives as they go.
If homeless people know no one will stand up to them if they use the sidewalks as a toilet and as a bed, and aggressively demand handouts, why would they stop? They are as obligated to respect private property as anyone, and giving them a pass because of their mental issues isn't being kind to them. Just the opposite. You have to expect people to behave well and stand up to them when they don't.
The places where these things go unchallenged testify against the regular residents as much as against the politicians, police, criminals, and the mentally ill. At some point, you have to stop complying with counterproductive rules and take responsibility for your surroundings. Even if it's only your small patch of property. Don't allow bad people to have their way on it.
You can do this without violating the rights of anyone to live as they see fit. This right to live as you want never includes the right to harm others or damage or take their property. There is no such thing as a right to steal, a right to vandalize, or a right to attack people. No rule can override the human right to defend life, liberty, and property from all violators.
Take responsibility and stand against those who demand you stand down and you'll have a society worth protecting. Don't, and you'll end up with Seattle, Chicago, or San Francisco.
This is an excellent and accurate description of the societal breakdown evident in the 21st century USA. And while some of the ‘leaders’ of this society laughably try to treat it and excuse it as the supposed push back from the somehow ‘oppressed’, I believe you have also identified its primary cause. It is NOT too little ‘law & order” or the indifference of the general public but instead the imposed restrictions and subsequent retaliations they face from the State when they attempt to protect their lives and property themselves from assault. The inhibitions thus imposed upon those who justifiably fear being treated as criminals for self-defense because they dared to usurp the State’s asserted monopoly on the use of force only serves to embolden and encourage those who think they can take what they want from whoever has what they want without consequence; an attitude that describes both official and unofficial criminals.
ReplyDeleteWhen consequences are outlawed, only outlaws are safe from bad guys.
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