There has been a lot of cop worship on Facebook from Christian friends lately. Christians aren’t supposed to be into idolatry, but we all have our blind spots. I’d like to respond to a couple of memes in hopes of limiting the idolatry in the future.
First of all, no one has ever said the government or cops want large groups of people dead. They don’t want to kill their source of funds.
But, they are the biggest thieves around, by far. They’ve stolen more from me in unjust taxes than any thief could ever dream. I’m much more worried about their thievery than any amateur thief.
As far as death squads roaming the streets if police stopped patrolling, that wouldn’t happen. The American people are armed. Criminals rarely break into houses with people in them, because they’re much more likely to be shot.
Furthermore, as hard as it is to believe, police aren’t the only option. I can hire private security. If my neighbors were to go in with me, it would become cheap per household to have a guy patrol our block at $12/hour with a gun and a marked car. In fact, he would be able to provide a much better response time, and do it more cost effectively because entrepreneurs are motivated by profit to serve their fellow man in a more cost-efficient manner than government. And private security can’t force me to pay for their service if I don’t want it.
Finally, there have been times when police have stopped patrolling and there was no mass-devastation, or any devastation from gangs of criminals roaming the streets. To say that we would all die if cops left us unprotected is nothing more than government PR, BS, and idolatry.
This one is just as preposterous. Did they protect me from thieves? No, they use threats of violence to steal thousands of dollars from me every year. Did they protect Alton Sterling and hundreds of other victims of police murder every year? No, they murdered them. Did they protect the rights of drivers on the roads who harmed no one? No, they write thousands of tickets per day for “crimes” with no victim to generate revenue for their government.
I had a discussion with an older Christian man who was making fun of Canadian health care, and calling them socialists for their health care system. I pointed out to him that Canadians are only socialist on one more thing (and with Obamacare we’re equal) than Americans. I listed off a few examples including fire services, security services, public schools, and social security. He said, “I don’t mind paying for things like police.” I regret that I was too polite with him. I should have called him an outright commy socialist. The problem with socialism is that people are forced to pay for things they don’t want. He doesn’t want health care from the government, so he’s pissed that he is being forced to pay for it. But, he wants police services from the government, so he’s OK with forcing me to pay for it.
Police need to be abolished. They are the criminal gang. They are the thugs with their colors.