Oh brother.... Hawkeye and Joe...
...if I understand you correctly, you are saying it is better if we the people cannot remove the head of local law enforcement with elections?
I don't recall saying that, I thought I said that a locally elected Police Force has not been without problems either.
You demonstrate the lamentable trend of associating or mistaking security with liberty.
I thought I was merely pointing out the benefits of a modern police force and that the "good old days" were anything but. I do not think I have been remiss on this thread in pointing out the past shortcomings and potential for abuse of power that exists in modern law enforcement. Personally I prefer security AND liberty. I don't believe the two are necessarily incompatible.
...back then one didn't have to worry about his 13 year-old daughter being kidnapped by some sicko ...you didn't have to worry about your wife being abducted by a serial killer.... Increased law enforcement has not reduced overall crime one bit.
I disagree, as you correctly point out, there were bad people then and now, true my daughter wouldn't meet a sicko on the internet, and a serial killer would only have to flee as far as the next county to be equally remote. One difference is that, nowadays, I can call 911. Doesn't mean I don't need to know how to defend myself, it does mean that I can summon up folks who's specialty is finding the bad guys, and often do. I do think you are viewing history through rose-colored glasses. There are detailed sociological comparisons of crime rates throughout history out there, I just would rather not dig 'em up right now, Guess we'll just have to disagree on this one.
in every city, county, and state of the United States there are police agencies that have the power to enter into your home, with very little probable cause, arrest you and shoot you if you resist. They could be dead wrong, but if you resist you will be shot just the same and the question will be as to why you resisted instead of why they were there. I do not view this as a favorable development.
Me neither. However you do not mention the fact here that our police do not yet operate in a vacuum, in the real world there is a free press, ourraged voters, interested critics (like the ACLU) and folks like Dewy, Screwem and Howe, personal injury lawyers (you do allude to lawyers later on). In the real world, Cops have to worry about all of these.
Either the government enforcers will become frustrated at their inability to stop evil human behavior and seek powers that ultimately errode all of our rights in an attempt to stop evil doers, or they will become outright evil themselves and seek the power for its own sake. Either one is bad for you and me.
Agreed, except I don't view this as an either/or proposition, rather I think the the second follows the first. Probably you will think me naive, but I don't believe we are there yet or that such is necessarily inevitable.
Finally, much of your view of authority rests with your culture and ancestory..etc...etc...
Geeze, you sure are making a lot of presumptions in this next series of thoughts. What? there are or were no Scots-Irish suck-ups? and only Scots-Irish are skeptical of authority? and a modern Confederate government wouldn't be essentially identical in all specifics to our modern Federal one? Personally I'm sort of rootless, but I do flatter myself with the belief that I have the ability to think for myself and to regard authority figures with a healthy skepticism despite my lack of Southern Scots-Irishness. Perhaps I am mistaken.
Oh yeah, in my experience many individuals of all ethnicites looking to the Federal Govt are looking for a handout, period. I dunno that this necessarily involves blind trust in "the man". Also, a great many of the Minority folks I know seem pretty distrusting of ANYONE in authority.
It just seems that to many people are concerned with if the neighbor might have a nasty cocaine habit, or he is driving 80 in a 70, or something else.
I picked this sentence out because it seemed to be the gist. What if a bunch of kids pick up my neighbor's nasty cocaine habit, get addicted and ruin their lives? Can everyone be EVERYWHERE to protect their families? Also I know a place where everyone drives however the heck they want, its called "Mexico", did you ever drive in Mexico?
Joe, when I see the ol' red and blues flashing in my rear view mirror I resent it same as anyone else. When a rude Cop banged on my door early one morning looking for a delinquent (wrong address) I resented that too. The police can be a real pain, and in many ways are intrisically threatening to our rights and liberty. Near as I can tell, prob'ly the only thing worse in a real-world modern society would be life without 'em.
Just my humble opinion.
Birdwatcher
