Bad laws attract bad people to enforce them – while pushing out the good (and semi-good) people. It’s a sort of Gresham’s Law as applied to human society. And more, a sort of authoritarian feedback loop that makes the situation progressively worse as time goes by. 
Consider the position of “law enforcer” in 2012 America. What does it entail? When we had peace officers, it mostly meant going after thugs – people who victimize others by threatening them with violence. Frauds and crooks, too. In brief, it meant going after those who violate the rights of others.
It was – generally – an honorable way to earn one’s living. Most citizens therefore respected cops – or at least did not actively dislike and fear cops. Most cops were “ok.” They – generally – could be counted on to leave you alone unless you’d actually done something to warrant not being left alone. It was a quid pro quo that made sense no matter which side of the fence you happened to be on.
Today, it is law enforcement that threatens harmless, morally (if not legally) innocent people with violence. The guy who, for example, grows a small batch of pot plants in his backyard (as opposed to the lawful citizen who brews his own beer). Or the seatbelt scofflaw – whose actions threaten harm to none except, perhaps, himself (and even then, only potentially). Or the farmer who sells “unapproved” milk to his neighbors. And the students who dare to exercise their right to peaceable assembly. The driver who declines to be a witness against himself and refuses to submit, sans warrant – and very often, sans probable cause – to a random stop and search of his vehicle and person. 
The list of victimless crimes – and latter-day victims of law enforcement – is long. Citizens are aware of the creepy fact that being a peaceful, harmless person who respects the rights of others is no longer sufficient to avoid becoming the target of a law enforcer. That the law increasingly targets people who have violated no other person’s rights – but who have violated “the law.” That is, who have committed some affront against the state.
Which is why citizens today increasingly dislike – and fear – these law enforcers. It is also why today we have essentially three kinds people who suit up for this sort of work:
Type one: The robotic “just doing my job” type. He is either not smart enough or introspective/thoughtful enough to consider the nature of the system; whether the laws are just or even reasonable. This is the cop type that can’t be reasoned with and more, the type who will enforce any law and any order simply because it’s an order or because it’s the law. Nothing more is required. He just follows orders. And it’s our job to Obey.
The upshot is this type of cop is only bad to the extent that the laws he enforces are bad. There is a limit. He usually won’t exceed the law or go beyond what he is ordered to do (because then he’d be exercising initiative and this type of cop is almost constitutionally incapable of that because it conflicts with his inner prime directive of obedience to the hierarchy.) He is fundamentally a bureaucrat. Bad perhaps, but not usually deliberately vicious.
Type two: The power-luster. This one enjoys wielding power over others. It makes him feel big and strong. He is often narcissistic and may even be sadistic. He absolutely lacks empathy. He sees us as ” civilians” – or worse. And it’s our job to Submit.
This type of enforcer is frightening because given the opportunity he will assault and possibly even kill you. And he’s actively looking for that opportunity. A recent example being the group of such enforcers in Fullerton, CA who beat a helpless homeless man to death (see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKGMaJG7gT4). And they will feel no remorse afterward. Indeed, they will get pleasure out of it. This is the sort of person who would have – and may yet again – line people up in front of a ditch.
Or man an oven.
Type three: The old school cop. He is usually old, literally. A relic of the days when cops didn’t expect immediate submission, when cops were expected to treat citizens civilly. He has mellowed – or become aware (and thus, cynical) about the nature of The Job. He tries to be decent, within the boundaries of what’s possible given “the law” and current law enforcement culture. He’s close to retirement, though, and doesn’t want to make too many waves. He’s also rare. You might get him one out of ten times these days.
Expect to see much less of him in the future, too.
His type is being screened out, actively and otherwise. Actively, because our increasingly militarized “law enforcement” agencies seek order-followers as new recruits. And who better-prepared (better conditioned) to follow orders than ex-military? A decade’s worth of combat (well, occupation) hardened veterans has streamed back to the Homeland in search of work – and what work are they better-prepared for than law enforcement? 
Note well that these law enforcers typically have a military rank structure. The head enforcer is often festooned with general’s stars or a colonel’s silver eagles. They wear menacing black BDUs, complete with flak jackets or body armor. Even in the country, were the major crimes are hunting out of season or getting a bit too boozed up on a Friday night. I live in an extremely rural part of southwest Virginia in a county that has literally one traffic light. Yet even here, courtesy of the Heimatsicherheitsdeinst apparat that sprouted after 911, there is now a bulletproofed “command post” and all the accoutrements of a fully militarized “law enforcement” department.
They, too, are just “following orders.” And local people have noticed that the new crop of cop is crew cut and unforgiving. Andy Griffith need not apply. His kind’s not wanted anymore. Of course, Andy wouldn’t want any part of this mess anyhow.
Would you?
Throw it in the Woods?
I don’t think it’s realistic to believe there’s going to be a peaceful revolution. I think we need to accept that it will get violent and the goal should be to be as smart about it as possible in an effort to minimize the violence.
If everyone waits till they have “nothing to lose” then we’ll lose everything including our liberty. There’s always something to lose that can used as an excuse for inaction.
Everyone whoever fought for freedom and liberty and the rights of man had family, fortune, life to lose, but decided that they were nothing compared to living as a virtual slave and then dying.
Material things can always be reaquired. Families can survive with the help of others and changing your expectations about your life style.
I’m already ashamed of myself for not having done more. For not being smarter than the gov’t. How pathetic. All the gov’t knows is violence and that can be used agains’t them if we just put our heads together.
We know that whenever the gov’t confronts a situation of protest they’re going to come in guns blazing and try to force everyone into submission. How do you use that to our advantage?
Eric said the British were shamed by Ghandi; they won over the British people, who eventually withdrew their government from India (well, mostly…it was still an economic colony).
Here, our goal is to get at least 10% of the people on our side–maybe not thinking 100% alike, but at least agreed that the police state is abhorrent.
The most visible manifestations are the local thug-scrums called “police departments” but better identified as the largest, richest, most ruthless gang of criminals in any given jurisdiction…and the TSA.
For the first, YouTube videos and Lamestream Media coverage of police brutality have been quite effective. The brutal killing of Kelly Thomas in Fullerton was so well covered they actually got the bastards indicted for murder. The in-the-face pepper-spraying at UC Davis has raised a major fuss as well.
For the second, the “Don’t touch my junk” guy was semi-effective…but not nearly as effective as the 95-year-old whose sanitary diaper was removed. THAT caused outrage! And how about the mother with her bottles of breastmilk?
OWS has the right basic idea, but their goals are confused and mostly wrong; they’re protesting the wrong 1%, etc. And–here’s the key–they’re not a sympathetic face. In the eyes of many Americans, they’re a bunch of “hippies” and “kids”, easily dismissed.
So the strategy then would be more of the same, but intentionally skewing the victim profile to more sympathetic faces…and since using kids would be totally immoral, it has to be
a) nice old folks
b) upstanding-looking (preferably women and mothers) who are presentable and articulate
The corollary to this is to be READY when the thugscrum starts. Heavy, and well-done, video documentation uploaded live to Qik where it can’t be confiscated. Background info on the victims; “Susie Q is a mother of three who runs the soup kitchen at First Baptist”. After the thugscrum, make the videos available to Lamestream media and the REAL media (i.e. sites like this), along with the sympathetic background info so people CONNECT to the victims and start to see themselves.
Hey–if these evil Eichmanns can false-flag us, we can have some theatrics too, can’t we?
Agreed, but what if engineers, writers, teachers and other professionals got involved as well? The people who represent mainstream America. Then maybe that would show others that the fight has gone mainstream. That others like them are past their breaking point and prepared to sacrifice to change things.
The real trick, of course, will be organizing these people in the first place.
I’ll think on it some with my libertarian criminal defense lawyer friend…whose services I will no doubt be retaining.
@methylamine – now you’re thinking. A very clever strategy! That’s where we need to be with this thought process. We need to do it smarter, more intelligent, and more effective. Christ we literally outnumber the gov’t 1000:1 or more and yet they run our lives in every aspect. That’s insane!
Ever see a hoard of ants take down a water buffalo? It’s a beautiful thing. And when the other ants wake up, the water buffalo’s way of life will be over.
Have you many of you folks here seen the New Hawaii 5-0 series ?
It’s much more militaristic than the old one as bad as Jack Lord’s
politics were. He was always pushing gun control, opposition to decriminalized drugs, gambling and prostitution. In those days homosexuality was a taboo in psychiatric circles so at least we were spared the ‘gay’ PC nonsense. Though of course no Blacks were ever shown committing crimes ! Pretty realistic, eh ?
McGarrett was a Korean War Navy Officer but that was 20 years earlier so he didn’t wear it on his sleeve.
These new 5-0 guys are ex-Seals with tatoos across large sections of their upper torsos and dress like bums. They also routinely violate the 4th and other Amendments. They firebomb and torture and kill at will. And their word is LAW. This is shown week after week.
Here in Oakland the cops are very corrupt but the DA’s office is worse. We were the first whites to buy a house on our block over 14 years ago and have been subject to vicious racist harassment by racist Blacks. Some insane Section 8 tenant next door made utterly false allegations against my wife, the police never came to get my wife’s side of the (nonexistent) story and the DA filed criminal charges against her without interviewing her either !
We will beat them but these attorneys cost money and the project trash that makes the false allegations doesn’t have to pay a dime.
Neither do the cops or the DA for their screwups.
At the OPD the buzz cut and skinhead look are the norm now.
Their whole attitude has been that if you live in a such a neighborhood you get what you deserve. Very few Oakland cops live here.
I think in the interior the police are even worse. There may be less PC Black racism there though.
Great site here, Eric.
Next posting I’ll talk about the pros and cons of different political sites.
Hey Mike!
Yup – and as we were talking about earlier, there’s “Cops” – or fascist porn, as my friend (and fellow poster here) Swamprat calls it. As bad as these cops (and shows about cops) are, what’s worse is the way the masses revere the new Sturmabteilung.
They’re “heroes” who “protect us” and so on…. ‘scuse me while I fill my barf bag….
Great point, Eric. But this has been going on for sixty years now since Dragnet in the early 50s with that horrible Jack Webb. What’s worse is the overwhelming militarization of the cop shows which both influence and reflect reality.
Jack Lord was obnoxiously PC but these new guys are just thugs and judging from the commercials I see on my wife’s TV when we watch our weekly Burn Notice that seems to be the norm. Burn Notice is great because the guy is a burned CIA ex-agent who usually ends up knocking off other intelligence types or Mafia types who are connected with them.
I’m no pacifist, you just have to aim at the right people.
Hey Mike,
Thanks – and, agreed.
I mentioned earlier that awful show, Cops – which I like to call fascist porn. Anyone who can watch that show and not feel disgust – for the cops – is missing a big hunk of their humanity.
This is just as I suspected on many levels.
“So it’s ok to try to kill anyone who isn’t the police? Is that how it works?”
Well that’s been exactly my experience in the ass-backwards american culture. Reacting to some idiot half as bad as that cop did has gotten me pulled over… ok I was on the bicycle when it happened but expressing my displeasure with someone who nearly killed me was my “offense”. In driving we are taught to “just let them do it” so yes, it’s widely known it’s ok to try and kill anyone on the road that’s not the police.
“You’re actually damned lucky that I am the police,. I exclaimed both sharply and loudly. .Anyone else might have knocked your head off for that, and they.d have done it with my blessing!”
Funny, this is almost the same thing the cops who pulled me over for expressing my displeasure have said. That the driver whom nearly killed me might get angry and hurt me. No blessing part. But I am sure if I actually did something back towards some idiot driver any cop would put me cuffs for it, because that’s how the system works.
Cops have nobody but themselves to blame for these conditions. They and their bosses have been telling people ass-backwards ways of behaving for decades… but somehow they expect a civil, proper way of behaving towards them. Somehow I find it enjoyable when people have their own teachings annoy/anger them.
Did you guys see this yesterday? Cops killed a 13-year-old boy with a pellet gun. Texas’ finest.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-police-kill-8th-grader-carrying-pellet-gun-15294317
No… thanks for making me aware. It brings to mind an incident that took place in the early ’80s, when I was barely 16. A friend of mine had a great “war face” – he could give you a really scary stare. Well, being dumb-ass teenagers, one day he and I were bored and thought of a stupid way to have some fun. We went for a ride in my dad’s car and brought along a cap gun. At a traffic light, my friend would turn and and show his war face to the guy in the next car, then slowly raise the cap gun… the other guy’s eyes would bug and we’d about piss our pants laughing… Well, we did this a few times, got tired of it, and decided to go to a record store (yeah, I’m old) to check out what they had. When we came out, there were about six cop cars in the parking lot. Now we really pissed our pants! Anyhow, the cops quickly realized the gun was fake and that we were just harmless – if stupid – teenagers and after a lecture, sent us on our way. No arrest or ticket – let alone real guns drawn on us.
Can you imagine how such a thing would be handled today?
I thought it might be instructive to browse some police blogs, try to get some idea of how prevalent the Type #2’s are in reality. Mostly unfruitful — cops can wander off topic just like the rest of us — but I found one blog called Cop N’ Attitude. Here is an entry. It’s a bit long, but it reads fast.
I was actually on the cop’s side until a particular point that I think you will recognize.
“So tonight, a bit before midnight, I’m approaching an intersection with a divided four-lane road ahead of me. I see a car on that road cross the intersection at what my training and experience tells me is about double the 35mph speed limit on that road. “Someone’s about to get it,” I tell myself as I turn onto that road behind the speeding car. I accelerate to catch up. The area is devoid of streetlights and pretty dark. I’m also driving a slick-top so I’m pretty sure that the guy didn’t spot me as he’d gone past.
The car is still moving fast, but I’m moving much faster and should be close enough to hit my lights in another few seconds. There’s only one other car between me and my prey, and that’s a red Ford in the left lane who is actually driving fairly close to the actual speed limit. I’m about to pass this Ford on the right and my hand is on the light switch because I’m going to light that speeder up just as soon as I’m directly behind him when all of a sudden…
What the @#$%! That Ford just shifted into my lane and hit it’s brakes, forcing me to punch MY brakes hard enough to engage the anti-lock system. My clipboard hits the floor and my coffee in the center console cup holder sloshes out of the cup.
I brake hard to get some distance between me and the obvious airhead in the Ford, and then I jump to the left lane because I’m not about to let one inattentive asshole keep me from that speeder. But just as I get back on the gas, the red Ford jumps back into the left lane and brakes again.
That did it. Screw that speeder. I want THIS guy now. My lights and siren go on and the red Ford and I both pull to the right side. In the heat of my desire to catch my original target, I was willing to scratch the first cut-off as the action of a not-paying-attention bozo. But the second time…that was clearly on purpose and both times he nearly wrecked us. I calmly put my stop out on the radio and walked up on the driver who, like his passenger, was an early-twenties white kid wearing a sports jersey, a few too many neck chains and his hat on backwards.
“Good evening. My name is Sergeant Krupke, Xxxxx Police Department,” I began calmly. “”Let me see your license and registration.” As soon as he handed them to me, I glanced at them briefly then tucked them into my belt while telling him to get out of the car. Once he was out and I’d walked him back up onto the sidewalk, I got to the meat of the matter, channeling my inner R. Lee Ermey.
“Just what exactly do you call that totally asinine display of driving?!” I shout at him. “You damn near wrecked us both not once but twice. What the hell is wrong with you?!” Actually I’m not really all that angry at this point, but sometimes it helps to employ a bit of theatrics to get your point across. And it works with this kid.
“I-I-I-I didn’t mean to, Sir…” he began, stammering.
“BULLSHIT!” I shouted. “That was 100% on purpose and don’t you even consider telling me anything different. I’ll tell you exactly what that was! You saw me coming up on you and decided that you didn’t want to be passed, didn’t you?” I was right in his face now, nose-to-nose, acting just like an old drill sergeant that I personally recall from my own younger days.
“I-I-I- didn’t know you were a police car, Sir…” he offered.
“Oh, so that makes it ok? Hell, I’ll bet that you two thought that it was pretty damned funny for a few seconds there, didn’t you?”
“Sir , we didn’t know that you were the police…” he repeated.
“So it’s ok to try to kill anyone who isn’t the police? Is that how it works? Do you even realize that your stupid stunt could have gotten all three of us killed?”
They both looked at me wide-eyed with their mouths open. The driver was shaking now. Maybe I was finally starting to get through to him.
“You’re actually damned lucky that I am the police,” I exclaimed both sharply and loudly. “Anyone else might have knocked your head off for that, and they’d have done it with my blessing!” I paused, staring at him. “But you lucked out, because I’m not going to knock your head off.”
“Th-th-thank you, Sir…” he replied.
“Oh, don’t thank me yet,” I told him as I pulled my cuffs out. “You’re under arrest for Reckless Driving, Unsafe Operation, and being a dumb-ass without a permit.” I may have been a bit theatrical, but truth be told, I was getting more pissed the more I thought about what this joker’d done. And it was either take him in or just cut him loose with a couple of tickets. Frankly, the latter option just wasn’t working for me so I hooked him. Maybe next time he’ll think twice before trying to cut off another driver just for fun.
So as I write this, his (dad’s) car should just about be arriving at the impound yard on the flatbed tow truck and he’s waiting for his turn before the magistrate in the morning. His pal’s probably still hoofing it, too, seeing as how he didn’t have a cell phone with him.
“Can you call me a cab, Sir?” he asked when I told him that he could leave.
“No, I’ll call you a dumbass just like your friend here. Start walking.”
I’m willing to bet that if you ask either of them, they’re wishing that they’d just let me get that speeder.”
Eric, which kind of cop do you think is portrayed at this url?
http://cdn.svcs.c2.uclick.com/c2/c32a36a0ff82012e2fbf00163e41dd5b
BTW: Good essay!
Type 1!
He’s “just doing his job,” you see.
Translated: I don’t know the difference between right and wrong, I need to be told what that is by the law and so I’m not responsible for my actions. If you have a complaint, talk to the PD.
Another favorite of mine is when a cop clearly abuses someone and even gets caught on tape, the PD always supports his actions with: “he followed proper police procedure”. Evidently, proper police procedure includes beating the shit out of someone if they don’t ask “how high” when told to jump.
I actually had this happen to me in Chester, Virginia. I was coming off the I-95 exit ramp onto Rt. 10. I was running under the posted limit because that interchange was speed trap central. An old Chrysler Imperial blew past my truck at about 60 in a 45 zone. A Chester cop came out of a parking lot and pulled me over. He asked the usual dumbass question “Ya’ know how fast you were going?” To which I responded, “Yeah, 44 because I see you guys out here almost every night. So what’s the deal? Couldn’t catch that Chrysler so you pulled the guy over in the new truck because he looked like he had money?” So he made me get out for a submission lesson…oops…I meant “sobriety test”. Then he “cut me a break” and “only” wrote me for 59 in a 45. I objected and asked if he was behind on his quota. He just laughed and said “Think what you like.” Shit like that gives you a real respect for the police.
I hope you didn’t pay it. I hope you told the city of Chester to shove it up their ass.
Don, I was 28 when this happened and still had enough USAF brainwashing active I wouldn’t even drive against the arrows on a parking lot! I checked with a friend of mine who lived in Chesterfield country (an EMT who knew a lot of the cops and the system), because I was ready to fight it in court. He told me that unless I was ready to appeal, just pay it and be done. He knew the judge I’d go in front of and said he wouldn’t even look at me, just say “guilty” and move on to the next case. So yeah, I paid it.
It was one of the defining things that pushed me out of the conservative camp and in with the libertarians; I was compliant and careful and still got screwed. The next bullshit ticket I got, I fought and won. The next one after that same thing and the next. If I hadn’t received that moment of instruction, I’d probably still be more like clover: ‘Well it hasn’t happened to me, so it doesn’t really happen. Duhhh’
The interesting thing is the state trooper that wrote me two of those tickets that were clearly malicious now has a bridge named after him. Apparently he was standing on the side of the road when an 84 year old man took him out. I looked him up the other day and he got hit in 2006 and he was four years younger than me. I had heard that he’d been moved out of my county because he had so many complaints against him. Interestingly enough, he was the prez of the local FOP chapter and owned a construction company (for low and medium income housing; read that gov. subsidized), a real estate agency and an inordinate amount of real estate for a trooper’s salary. Hmmm? I wonder how many kilos of “evidence” it takes to do that? What comes around goes around.
Here is a true story about beating a traffic ticket and a bad judge to boot!
There had been a number of avocado thefts in the area I lived in near Carpenteria, CA. I was returning home from town and going to turn left onto my road. A sheriff was coming the other way and waited for me to turn left in front of him. I was in my primer grey ’57 Chevy at the time.
Well the road was curvy, narrow and overgrown and I’m running between 35 and 50, depending, and driving right up the middle of the road. When coming to a blind right hairpin turn I moved all the way to the left side and drive around it and up the hill. When I got to the top and back on the throttle here come the lights and sirens. I got wrote by a jailer on a ride along: Speeding, driving on the wrong side of the road and no registration.
A lawyer lady that kept her horse at the ranch I was living in witnessed from afar and asked me about it. She told me that if I wanted to beat the ticket (she agreed it was a baloney citation), I would have to disqualify the judge first as he was notorious for riding roughshod over traffic court defendants. She later provided me (free) with a fill-in-the-blanks document for disqualifying the judge.
As I was sitting outside the courthouse waiting for it to open, I spot a gentleman striding toward the courthouse with the most smug and arrogant expression on his face and I figured this had to be Judge Patano, a fellow dago. It was.
In court I watched as he ridiculed and condescended every defendant that came before him, with the snickering approval of the DA and the court clerk. I could hardly wait to put this SOB in his place. Did I mention that I was hot tempered 26 year old Italian?
Then the judge called my case, pronouncing my last name perfectly. Everyone could see he was going to drill my ass.
I approached and he read the charges and asked me how I plead. I said ‘If it please the court’ and was immediately interrupted by the judge advising me not to do or say anything that might prejudice my case if I was going to take it to trial. He asked me if I wanted a court date, and my response was ‘If it please the court’ and again was interrupted while the judge explained the damage I could do my case if I did or said something at that juncture, and he set a court date. The DA has this big smile on his face and the judge is in all his arrogant glory. The judge finishes by saying if I have made all the consideration and to think very carefully. I am pissed and the adrenalin is flowing freely. Did I mention that I was hot tempered 26 year old Italian?
I said ‘Fine’, took the document out, SNAPPED it open and took it to the judge. He looked at it for a moment and his jaw dropped open. The court was silent. He said to the DA, ‘ Mr. so-and-so, It seems Mr. Barbieri has served me with a section such-and-such. Now the DA’s mouth drops open. The court is silent and inside I am screaming “YES!!”
The judge then says, “Well Mr. Barbieri, I guess we don’t want to set you a court date’. I said ‘No sir I did not think so’, and he had the clerk change the calendar.
As I walked out of court I wanted to scream Fuck You! But held my silence.
When my trial came up before the reasonable judge, I took two witnesses to corroborate my reasons for driving as I did (there was no speed limit posted and the brush grew right up to the roads edge). He dismissed the speed charge and said he was going to hold the other judgment until he could look the road over. Two weeks later the roadside weeds were cut back 5 feet on both sides of the road the entire distance and around all of the boulders on that hairpin turn. Then I got notice in the mail the other charges were dropped. I have that ticket and the dismissal still in my possession. It was a heady time for me.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
Jay Barbieri aka babydriver.
Ok guys so let’s just keep bitching and moaning in virtual anonymity on the Internet. That’s going to accomplish a lot. All the while fat, old, deranged politicians in Washington who can’t discern reality from fantasy continue to take your money and give it to themselves and others. They continue to pass law after law telling you what, where and how and you do it.
Shit, why don’t we all just pull on a pair of panties and bend over ’cause if we’re going to get fucked, we might as well dress for the occasion.
Anybody have a better suggestion so that everyone can live in freedom in their lifetime rather than spouting the old cliche`: I’m fighting for my children’s future. Yea, that’s what the previous generation said. How’d that work out? I’m all ears.
I’m game for trying something; writing is my thing so that’s what I’ve been doing. I try to get people talking. I’m also willing to do more.
Where to start?
Should we sit down over a beer and discuss it? I can come to Virginia. I’ve got a number of friends on Facebook who feel the same way and are waiting for someone to organize something.
It’s an idea… and it might be a start! Anyone else here interested?
In numbers there is strength, ’tis true. But as in the Acres of Diamonds story, there are many opportunities where you are, too. Speaker Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.” Conscious-raising-at-the-water-cooler messages may in the end be the most effective of all. Every driver behind me sees my Ron Paul bumper sticker; probably 98 percent of them won’t react, but there’s the other two percent who will feel permission to actually listen to Paul the next time he’s allowed on TV.
Town hall meetings, letters to the editor, comments inserted in ordinary conversation — all these things can be done no matter where you are. Messages dropped in calmly, unstridently, reasonably. Sneakily.
Years ago I read a great book, How To Master the Art of Selling. The writer pointed out that there is a strong drive in our human natures to say No. The average guy will say No even as he is eying the goodie that he knows he wants. It is this impetus that a salesman must overcome. If you can get the customer nodding, he said, then you’re halfway there.
We must get the customer nodding … we can best do that by winning their interest by chatting on an unthreatening subject of mutual interest — food prices — and implanting a soft, nearly unnoticable insertion that will sprout in receptive soil.
Recently I was in the bread aisle at my grocery store. The cheapest bread that was edible — that is, not squishy whitebread — was $3.69. I said to the woman, a stranger, next to me, “Boy, you know it’s getting bad when you can’t even afford BREAD.” She said, “Isn’t it awful?” and disappeared. Okay, that one didn’t work, but it might’ve!
I share Don’s frustration. My perennial hope is that the rest of America isn’t as dulled-out as the community where I live. If so, we’re in deep trouble. But you gotta work with what you have.
Been there, done that, nothing changed. Even if it were possible to bring about peaceful, civilized change – which has never happened – how long must Americans suffer waiting for it? The Vietnam era folks did all those things and things got immeasureably worse. They’re still waiting. I’m only a few years away from an AARP card, how long must I wait?
I agree with your philosophy, but that time has long, long past.
I’m game for trying something too, IT/Web stuff is my thing and together with Eric we’ve got this much going (this site). We had a few fellas around here with some ideas ranging from driving without a license plate to not paying property taxes. It has to be something that won’t cost me my job! I think blocking the TSA checkpoints at the airports requires a shitload of organizing and the willingness to accept a felony charge.
That’s the inhibiting factor for everyone isn’t it? I don’t want to make any real sacrifices for my rights. If I can get them back by having someone else – like Ron Paul – make those sacrifices then great but I’d rather live as a virtual slave rather than lose my current job.
That’s a man’s decision and I respect it, but I’m so, so far past that. If I lose my current job then I’ll find another one. There are more important things in life than my job.
Making a real effort at fighting for our rights would probably be the most meaningful thing – apart from my kids – that I’ve ever done with my life.
None of us would have the current job opportunities we have if not for others 200 years ago being willing to jeopardize their lives.
My whole life – I’m Eric’s age – people have been protesting, writing etc… as things have gotten progressively worse. The time for talk and half measures is long, long gone.
Don, you don’t have too long to wait. If Ron Paul gets the nomination and he wins the presidency (as he said, there is a risk), you will see that real change we’ve all been working toward. But as Dom pointed out, some things will simply make you an employee of Federal Prison Industries (Unicor if you prefer, it’s real, check it out). They’ve got a shitload of “employees” that were only in possession of a prohibited weed. They will deal with us much more harshly over real resistance. The sad fact is there aren’t enough pissed off Americans just yet. If Dr. Paul doesn’t get in, there very well may soon be. Hence the camps and NDAA provisions, etc.
You sir are a damn good writer and you have reached many people on LRC and here. I know you aren’t seeing the results you want fast enough for your efforts. But I’m sure one of the things we’re put here for is to learn patience. You won’t be writing shit if you’re in the federal gulag (unless you’re a tattoo artist). And you really won’t spread any ideas if you’re dead (or ever do anything else for your children either). I’m older than you are (and have been getting screwed longer and harder because I’m also a vet). I’ve confronted congress critters, written letters, sent money, spoken at public hearings, circulated petitions and even confronted the IRS in person. Did I change anything? Hell, I don’t know. But at least I’ve gotten off my ass once in a while and tried whether or not I saw immediate results. As frustrating as it can be, I’m not ready for martyrdom yet. You shouldn’t be either. We still have work to do, don’t blow it. I hope someday to sit across a table from you with a Margarita in my hand to discuss what we accomplished. That won’t happen if we go off half cocked.
Things have been getting progressively worse; that’s true. But we as a nation are out of the period of unraveling now and we are headed smack dab into the middle of the crisis (it’s all cyclical and has happened many times before). Things are going to change dramatically very soon. So all I ask is that you keep a cool head; you’re smart and we need you alive and un-caged. Right now the PTB are just waiting for any one of us to give them a reason to strip us of our few remaining rights and put us in a cage. I implore you to hang in there a little longer Don and not let them do that to you. Being prudent and patient doesn’t make you any less a man. Our Patrick Henry moment may come, but let’s wait until there’s clearly no other choice.
Thanks friend for the kind words. I too have been fighting for a long time. I’ve actually written legislation as a younger man and tried to get it introduced into the legislature with no success. I’ve gone to court many times and lost them all. I too have written letters, spoken, defied etc…
You are correct, of course, with your analysis of the current situation and our chances, but I’m not getting any younger.
What should I do with my life? What should a carpenter do with his life if he can build a house for someone? What should a doctor do with his life if he can save the life of another? Should they say: “I’m busy today, sorry” or should they do what they are capable of doing?
Should such decisions be made based on personal costs and benefits or that of society? And who should decide when our “Patrick Henry” moment has come? Isn’t that kind of waiting for the rapture? We’ll know it when we see it and you’re not it?
Beautifully said, Boothe – thank you.
@Boothe–
Totally agree.
I’ve had this battle in my mind for the last five years…”I should DO something, organize a TSA sit-in, organize a property tax revolt!” etc, etc.
But I have two young children and I won’t do them any good working for the Elites in one of their prisons, and I doubt the life insurance money will comfort them if I’m dead.
And another point you’re “dead-on” right: the Elites want violence, they’re salivating for it. They–the globalist banksters sitting offshore waiting to take possession of the collateral on their “loans”, that being you, me, and the real estate we’re on–have modeled this situation precisely to cause a civil war.
When we’re bloody, beaten, and completely exhausted they’ll swoop in and offer peace, faux-prosperity, and comfort…in the form of world government.
Let’s keep our actions educational; it is not until we have a truly critical mass, at least ten percent, that we can effectively say “no” in such numbers that they can’t muster enough thugs and goons to beat us down.
I think the “how we burned” Solzhenitsyn quote is pertinent. Stalin rounded up large percentages of the city during his raids; if ten percent had fought back, THAT would have ground the system to a halt. One percent, just an inconvenience.
Every precipitous violent defense–some guy shooting the next tax collector on his property–provides excuses for the next round of draconian laws. But if we WAIT, “until you see the whites of their eyes”, one of two things will happen:
They’ll implement the draconian laws without the excusing incidents, raising the masses’ awareness OR
They’ll implement false-flags to get the draconian laws, which we can expose.
But if we go off half-cocked we create the very gulag we’re trying to avoid.
Ten percent. That’s my goal.
P.S. I’ve largely given up the idea of expatriation. They’re implementing the NWO world-wide; just recently Argentina passed a law identical to the NDAA.
@Don:
You present an interesting point I hadn’t thought of: you’re getting older, don’t have dependents, and want to make more of a difference.
How about organizing hundreds or thousands who, like yourself, want liberty faster and have little to lose?
I don’t mean to sound cruel. I’m just strategizing. Imagine if 100 seniors staged a TSA sit-in, walk-through, or mass protest (“No, I will not be scanned. And No, you will not touch me young woman.”).
It would be an excellent publicity stunt; old people beaten/tazed/arrested for peaceful protest. A bunch of very sympathetic victims; a real wake-up.
Seeing old people abused by the TSA might break the sheeple trance!
As Brent wrote, it’s important to carefully consider what we do and – like Ron Paul – take care not to go too far, too soon.
There is still time, as I wrote in a column recently, to effect change without going to the mattresses. I, too, have been writing about the issues we’ve been discussing here for many years – but this era is the first era in my lifetime that these issues are, if not mainstream, at least not “fringe.” Ron Paul’s strong showing this election cycle (and last) is proof of this. Liberty is still not well-understood; most Americans are statists of one type or another. But more people are awake now than they’ve ever been in living memory, or at least, my living memory.
So, it’s a start…
We have to change hearts (and minds) before we can change our form of government.
Agreed Eric. I’m not a physical fighter. I have no training in such things and respect life too much to even think about physically harming or killing another human being. I’m not a cop.
But I’m certainly not a pacifist.
Having said that, I don’t see any evidence that the education of the hearts and minds of the people is going to solve the problem before a complete economic collapse does.
I also get the feeling that people are just looking for someone to show them how. How they can civily disobey the gov’t. If someone can show them that it can in fact be done, and be done affectively with real results that they too can employ on a daily basis, then it will catch fire. As much as I respect Ron Paul and his efforts, it’s irresonsible of us to sit back and put all our hopes on him. We have to meet him half way.
By writing, and talking about the problem and not doing anything to bring about real change, I feel like the guy in the bleachers at the baseball game calling the players bums, while I sit back and drink my beer.
I think my biggest fear is laying on my death bed and regretting not doing something when I was able to, for fear of something happening to me. The problem is far bigger than just me or any one individual.
Eric – good article. My grandfather (an Old Right Republican) use to say that any policeman, sheriff or peace officer that really liked his job was not someone good to have in that position. By that he meant that anyone who really enjoyed being your alternative 1 or 2 (the ones who are on the reality cop shows) or who really enjoyed having to deal with these law breakers (violent and thieves) ie. seeing human beings fall to this level. – Jacob Steelman
Dear Eric:
Great article. Thanks much. It will come in handy as I am archiving it for future use.
Interestingly enough, however, as I nowadays view Andy of Mayberry, in some instances of 1960s America, even he was over the top in some of the episodes. But, in the main, you’re right. Today’s militarized police mindset has no use even for that kind of an Andy.
Regards,
Bill
Thanks, Bill – great to have you with us!
Great article and timely, thank you.
I now legally carry a concealed handgun in defense against “Any” criminal, if you get my drift. I certainly don’t want it to come to that, but dealing with violent types, on both sides of the Law, i.e. those raised on: violent video games/TV/movies, junk food, physically/mentally/emotionally abusive parents, Rx and non-Rx Drugs, Heavy Metal, Steroids, Iraq, etc., etc., etc., clearly, the design has be planned out for the “Type Two” thugs to take over and to unconsciously follow the orders of their Feudal Lords. Unfortunately for the general public now, these bloated bullies get to fulfill their wildest dreams at our expense. Total freedom to satisfy their psychopathic, fantasy perversions, getting paid in the process, while utilizing state of the art weaponry to maim, torture and kill.
We’re going to get reamed. But then again, look at the bright side. When the unsustainable systems falter and eventually collapse, I would not want to be in the boots of the men and woMen who wear the Blue, especially the T-2’s. We won’t forget who they are, what they did and where they live.
Good for you. I’ve never understood those that are so proud of the fact that they carry a weapon, but the first time they’re threatened with a deadly weapon by someone – which is always a cop – they don’t use their weapon to defend themselves. They acquiesce to the cop immediately as if they had no weapon at all. So what’s the point? A threat on your life is a threat on your life regardless what the criminal is wearing or who he works for.
Does anyone realize how easy it would be for us to change the situation in America if we would just work together.
Imagine a group of people as small as 100. What if these people all at the same time refused to be subjected to the TSA’s violation of their rights and just kept on walking through the metal detectors? The red lights would go off but they couldn’t stop all 100 people. The airport would probably shut down resulting in massive losses to the airlines. And then another group of 100 the next day etc…
Such an action would be simple civil disobedience. It violates no one’s rights but rather defends ours.
But how pathetic that we can’t even get 100-200 people willing to do such an innocent and effective act of civil disobedience?
The only reason the state exercises such powers over us is because we let them. Period.
If we believe we are free; if we believe we live in a free society, then it’s about time we started acting like it or shut up.
I’ve (think most of us) have been thinking this exact same thing for a long time. It’s pathetic!
That sounds good Don, except…. When I was still in the Air Force I watched a full bird colonel challenge two SP’s out on the flight line. They asked to see his line badge and he tried to bully and bluster his way past them. He broke the plane of the control point. I watched them put his ass down on the tarmac with a loaded M-16 to his head. They weren’t playing. If he’d persisted, they’d have undoubtedly shot him. It was a test; they passed.
Anyone that believes we’re free in Amerika anymore is high! Out of that 100-200 people you’d have challenge the gates at any major airport, you’ll need six to ten that won’t mind taking a bullet for the cause. They would be seen as “insurgents” or “potential terrorists” by military veterans that are now guarding the airports. They’d be told to stop and if they didn’t some of them would get shot. That’s the hard cold police state reality of it. So….who wants to be first?
I don’t know about that. Not a single cop fired on a single OWS protestor anywhere in the country even though in Oakland they blockaded the dock and shut down operations there. But the OWS folks took that risk didn’t they?
Sure there’s going to be risk, but if we believe that we live in a society where there are more cops willing to shoot and kill peaceful protestors than not, then we have no choice but to arm up and get on with it violently then do we? Because if that’s the case then peaceful civil disobedience is a waste of time.
I think the big difference between OWS in the streets and even on the dock is those aren’t airports, so the public outcry would be too great if some examples were set. But when the PTB have “potential terrorists” headed for those huge fuel laden missiles that everyone “knows” were used to take down the WTC, they could justify a few “examples”. As far as the conclusion of your last post goes; explain to me again why the British army went home in the 18th century?
The caveat is getting 100-200 people in multiple locations to do this kind of thing at the same time. I agree with Boothe that individual acts, or isolated acts, of that sort of civil disobedience will be stomped on hard and few will notice or care. The victims will be easily characterized as “terrorists” – or at least, “threats to our safety.”
What’s needed is some way to put all the isolated individuals out there who feel as we feel in contact and then organize something. Of course, that’s “conspiracy” and would likely result in black clad Ninja raids before anything got rolling.
They already have something like this that’s been going on for a while now. Ya’ll know those little flash mobs.
Exactly Dom. You see how helpless the store clerks are when a “mob” of people ransack the store. Of course I don’t condone those actions but the idea is the same.
And I’m talking about running for the planes, but rather forcing our way through the TSA check point and just standing on the other side in defiance or breaking into song together. ANYTHING that demonstrates the power of the people when we work together.
Then as they come to deal with us another “mob” of folks do the same thing.
Eric has talked about hitting the airlines in the pocket-book, this is an avenue for doing that.
All it would take would be one person at each metal detector to shut that line down. Then another, and another and another. They simply do not have the man power to deal with them all AND run their security bullshit at the same time.
Or how about this: we just lay down and form a pile in front of the metal detectors! People can’t pass till they deal with us. Then they get rid of us and another group of twice as many people do the same thing. They would have no way of knowing who in the line was planning on participating so there’d be no way for them to stop it. Over, and over and over again. But we need numbers. Of course that’s the answer anyway isn’t it: numbers. We need to work together and be smarter than the gov’t trolls. If we cannot do that then we don’t deserve to be free.
Somehow I think the story/stories would be spun off in a bad direction. I can imagine the headlines now. “Group of vigilantes flash mob at airport and cause stampede, x dead and y injured. Fifty in custody.” Even if it weren’t true.
Yeah Dom, that’s how it would probably go down. ABCNNBCBS would even have footage, shades of “The Running Man”, running in snippets to show what a bunch of crazies these “domestic terrorists” were. The flash mobs are, of course, one more justification for more police, more surveillance and tighter control of the Internet. If some kind of sit / gate blocking protest were to go down organized over the Net, we’d see a crackdown quicker than you can say SOPA. That would be the perfect excuse to implement an “Internet Kill Switch”. Now what would really put a financial hurting on the airlines would be a total ban on carrying sail fawns and laptops onto commercial airlines. After all, someone could hide a device in one very easily. The Israeli Shin Bet did that to take out “The Engineer” Yahya Ayyash back in ’96. Imagine what a total electronics ban would do to air travel and their bottom line. The pocketbook is where you hurt them.
The fact of the matter is, the vast majority of Americans would prefer to submit to either perverted TSA groping or massive dosages of radiation rather than than bucking the system. What does that tell you about our fellow Americans?
I refuse to fly commercial flights. However, if a designated “circumvent the gropers and zappers at the airport” day were to be arranged on a national scale, I’d fly to no where to make the point. Got to be a big event, though. Not worth it, otherwise.
Unfortunately, those that fly would prefer to take the path of least resistance, even if the act is demeaning to themselves. It’s a sad commentary on the state of mental health of the majority of Americans.
From what I gather from the few comments here in this thread, we probably represent 1 % of 1% of the population. Personally folks, I don’t see this improving at all, in fact, I think the worse is at least 7 or 8 years down the road. Going to be a designed slow meltdown. “They’re” going to milk Americans for every cent and civil liberty they can as the heat is slowly raised in the water in the pan. “Collapse” is not part of their equation for total domination. They don’t need a collapse. Keep the physical infrastructure in place while slowly dismantling the Minds of the Masses.
Good luck, hope to see you all on the other side.
I think you’re right. The evidence so far says you’re right. Remember last year’s “opt out” day? So few were willing to do even that. It didn’t even register.
I tried getting involved with the local Tea Party group in my very small, very rural county. It was all rabid Republicans; all talk about “Islamofacism” (perhaps the most idiotic counterfactual I’ve heard in ten years) and when I broached topics pertaining to liberty, I received nothing but abuse in return.
In fact, my experiences tell me that Republican “conservatives” are the worst as far as not understanding – or desiring liberty. They’re suffused with bloodlust, ache for conformity – and are more than ready to use force against any who disagree with their worldview.
Much of this sounds similar to what Ghandi help organize in India against British rule. In some cases people paid with their lives to get a free India.
What will people be willing to sacrifice to get the America they proclaim to want?
Unfortunately I think things will get worse, before there will be enough people willing to peacefully protest the authoritarian tactics of the government.
What will be the line in the sand that causes many people to be willing to sacrifice their property, liberty and life for a better America?
The difference is that Ghandi relied on the basic decency – the ability to experience shame – of the British. I read an interesting alternative history that had the Germans winning WWII and thus, becoming overlords of India. Ghandi tried the same tactics. The Germans simply had him shot. End of story.
I agree. We have to be the change that we want. Somebody has to lead and inspire. That’s what Dr. Paul does: he inspires. Look at how many people felt this way for so long but didn’t realize there were so many others that felt the same way until Dr. Paul united us.
Somebody has to do the same thing from the street level up to meet Dr. Paul in the middle. I don’t know what that is but I know it has to happen.
Communism didn’t end peacefully. People died. I think this is a reality we have to accept and move on. To quote Yoda 🙂 “train ourselves to let go of the things we fear losing”, otherwise we’ll always have an excuse not to do anything.
There is nothing new about the cops. History has always shown power corrupts and it attracts people who want to wield it. These people have been around forever. The article really points out the problem in the first sentence, there are too many laws.
America was founded on the idea of man mostly self-governing. The “law” was meant to be, as Bastiat explained, an extension of the individual right to protect life liberty and property. Any laws beyond the collective expression of individual liberty has no moral legitimacy in a free society. So the victemless crime is born where the citizen is subject to the wrath of the state simply for not obeying arbitrary rules.
Once a society accepts these laws, it’s only a matter of time before they are predominant and you end up with the authoritarian society we have today just one good “crisis” removed from a full on police state.
The only good news is to see how the conversation has at least changed in modern politics. I am not saying Ron Paul will win any elections, but it doesn’t matter because what he represents is something different. He represents the tireless ideals of freedom. And although those ideals get buried from time to time as people tend to grow complacent with prosperity we are again at the tipping point where enough of a tireless minority now exists that I am sure freedom will once again be our operative system.
It won’t be without a fight, hopefully a mainly philosophical fight at the end of a decentralizing economic collapse. Remember, fire is not always bad for the forest. In fact, it’s often necessary for forests to stay healthy. Such is the cyclical nature of freedom.
Good stuff, Steve – agreed.
I’d only that in the past, cops were somewhat constrained by the different social context; i.e., they were expected to at least go through the motions of respecting citizens as people as well as their rights. That’s mostly gone now. It takes very little to end up with your face smashed into the hood of a squad car.
Too bad so many folks believe in ‘multiculturalism’ and ‘diversity’, when , in truth, it is exactly ‘divide and conquer’.
This is why I wish so much that this democraat republican nonsense would be seen as it really is.
If one complains about Obama, the next guy hammers Bush, like if you were praising Bush, which you were not, only hammering Obama because he is the current talking head.
Bottom line? It is all very fucked up and I don’t see it getting any better until it gets a whole lot worse. Should be one hell of a show. Vote Ron Paul if he makes it to the ballot.
When I was a kid living in upstate NY, in a tiny town, there was one cop, the Type 3. His main job was to make sure that mischief makers didn’t break windows or throw too many eggs on Halloween. It was understood that if we got too far out of line we wouldn’t get arrested, tased, pepper sprayed (I don’t think tasers or pepper spray existed yet), but that we’d get a lecture and then dragged home to our dads, who would deal with us. Times have changed. I’ve had to teach my kids that Officer Friendly is NOT his friend and is NOT there to help him. It’s a sorry state of affairs.
I’ve tried to teach my kids the same thing about “officer friendly”. As Eric pointed out: regardless if he comes to school to eat lunch with the kids and all the kids like him, he’s either type 1 or type 2 which means there’s nothing friendly about him.
I always wondered how come there was an “officer friendly” program in school in the first place? There’s no “fireman friendly” or “doctor friendly” or “engineer friendly”. Only the cops take time off their taxpayer funded responsibilities to go visit kids at school. Must be important.
It just reeks of indoctrination doesn’t it? Why do they feel the need to convince children that cops are friendly? Are they not friendly like firemen and doctors and such? And if not then why not? Rather than trying to convince the kids that they are friendly, how about the cops actually become friendly people then there’d be no need for the program at all.
It’s liberating and at first scary when your eyes are open to the reality of society. You start re-examining everything from childhood on up and realize that your entire life has been one big fat lie. But once your eyes are open, there’s no going back.
It also teaches kids to trust a man in a police uniform, setting the stage for pedophiles to dress like cops and abuse the kids. At which time the cops would no doubt come in with even more restrictions on our liberties and more power in an effort to remedy the crisis that they created.
This state of affairs leads to real repression in that a small portion of the citizenry, even isolated individuals, will carry out violent reprisals for perceived offenses by law enforcement. Law enforcement escalates the violence and retaliation becomes more savage, drawing in more disillusioned citizens in a feedback loop of terror. It ends, of course, in revolution, ala Libya or Egypt. But nobody wins.
Nobody wins – exactly.
Yet few see that, until it’s too late to turn back.
It should be a clear sign of legitimate complaint that many average citizens dislike cops as such.
More troublesome to me, though, is that we have so many Clovers who approve of inherently repressive, leads-to-brutality things such as random “safety” checks, which shit all over basic due process and notions of individual rights. For the past 25 years, since this stuff began, we’ve seen the gulf between cops and ordinary citizens grow.
When a citizen who has done nothing specifically to justify arrest/search/detention can no longer assert his rights – and walk away without the cop having any lawful authority to stop him – we’ve no longer got any rights.
None, that is, a cop is bound by, or bound to respect.
Good point, Eric.
I remember a conversation I had some years ago with a fellow who worked for some years in Guatemala for an engineering company. He told me that the police and military would set up roadblocks to harass the populace all the time. The ordinary citizens really hated this, so much so you could see the hate in their eyes. He said it was a way of the Guatemalan aristocracy to control the people and the police/military at the same time. The hatred of the people to the police/military was converted into the dependence of the police/military on the ruling elite to protect them from the people. In other words, the ruling elite was playing one group against the other for control. He said it worked very well.
I fear that is what they are doing here now.
StanTheMan
Stan that’s exactly right; it’s divide and conquer. I’ve argued for years that political correctness, hypenated America and “diversity” are nothing more than the means to keep us separated and fighting with each other. This ensures that we don’t start fighting with the PTB.
Precisely Stan.
The chicken-necked skin-bags in the Elite know they’re outnumbered 100,000 to one. If the illusion of their power starts to fail, they fear the pitchforks will come out; they HAVE to keep us killing each other…or afraid of “the other”, like scary brown people ten thousand miles away.
I also think, like Alex Jones, that the real globalists–international banksters who mostly live offshore–want civil war in America. It’s the fastest way to exhaust and demoralize us for the advent of their final solution, the NWO.
In a way, having the economic collapse before the really heavy-duty police state hits will be a good thing…because we’ll have to band together and support each other through the tough times, and find out we’re not so different after all. The Elites can’t have that. Don’t want the slaves fraternizing, now, do we?
Thanks to television people can be shocked into seeing how much things have changed.
One thing to do is to watch reruns of early episodes of COPS. Yes, the show that glorifies them. To catch an early episode can be shocking because of how differently cops behaved. Yes they are always playing to the camera but the image they -choose- to show is shockingly different. In one early episode a cop has someone pulled over and a drunk rams her squad car. She’s perfectly calm, checks the drunk’s condition, and then goes through the legal routine for DUI and the collision. None of the shouting and guns drawn of today. In another episode there is some sort of domestic incident and the cop just allows the neighbor to keep the guy’s guns for the time being. No irrational fear or other nonsense seen today… oh he has guns… he’s drunk… neighbor can hold them for now… agreed upon with the guy. worked out a solution instead of todays violence.
Another window into change are fictional shows. As usual Sci-fi showed the twilight zone episodes one after another. Almost every year I end up seeing the Art Carney episode where he plays a drunk with a job as a department store Santa. He finds a magical gift giving bag and is “arrested” for stealing the gifts. I put arrested in quotes because he walks, un cuffed with the cop to the station. Upon inspection by the cop the bag is full of garbage. The cop says we’re dealing with the supernatural and lets Carney’s character go. What sort of violent arrest would have happened today?
There’s enough record of the way things used to be, yet people act as if it was never different.
That’s a great point Brent.
I suspect you, Eric, a couple of the other regular posters and I are roughly the same age–early 40’s or so. We have strong formative memories from the late 70’s to the 80’s, and we remember what it was like having the vestiges of freedom.
Why aren’t there more like us?
Why does it seem like the over-55-ish crowd is so utterly unreachable?
And why is Ron Paul’s best demographic the 18-24 group? They were BORN into this slavery; they can’t remember what it was like to tell a cop to go fuck himself, and simply be reprimanded…not be beaten or killed (true story, did it myself circa 1986).
“And why is Ron Paul’s best demographic the 18-24 group?”
I think it’s because this generation sees little future in America as it is; they know they are the first generation that will probably not achieve the same living standard as their parents – hell, as their older brothers. The Boomers don’t object to Submit & Obey because they get something from the system – especially Social Security/government pensions. They have little economic motive to seek a change in the current order toward liberty. But imagine being 24, having $60,0000 of student debt and the only job you can find is a part-time gig at Starbucks where they still make you pay 15 percent into FICA. Knowing you’ll likely never be able to afford more than a small apartment; that having a family (if you want kids) will be extremely difficult, financially….
Hell, if I were 24 now I’d probably just pack my bags and “light out for the territories”!
I’m 59 now and I am not sleeping. Just waiting for the STHTF. Going to be ugly too.
That scenario sounds horrible! Wait.. that is happening right now. I’ll be turning 35 this month. I have the student loans and the family (wife and six year old daughter). My job is decent.
You’re gettin’ old, man!
What about this: why would a woman want to become a cop?
I’ve always contended it’s because her father didn’t love her and so now she’s going to whittle away at that chip on her shoulder by abusing the rights of others.
But I could be wrong.
Also: Female cops are probably more likely to resort to Tasers/guns and so on; to escalate – because they’re female and even the he-butches one sees in a uniform these days are (usually) no match, physically, for male “offenders.”
They also seem to be more aggressive and cold – as it to compensate.
I have a daughter-in-law who is a Special Agent of the FBI. She is just tall enough that she doesn’t need to ride in a booster seat in Illinois (she is 5 ft tall, 4 ft 9 is the law here). My son just got out of the Navy as a SEAL. I was thinking, “just the couple your average mugger would want to confront in a dark parking lot”. She has been trained on how to take you down, and is packing heat, and he doesn’t need to pack heat to deal with you. She was a CT1 in the Navy. She has always seemed to be quite layed back. She says that there is far too much “law” in this country, and too many “law enforcers” who obey orders. I got stopped for speeding when she was in the back seat. She ran the cop through so many drills on his car, the radar unit, and his qualifications to use it, that he just gave me my license back, got into his car, and left.
I have seen him a couple times since then–he just waves as I go by.
The active militarization of our domestic police is indeed very frightening. As we’ve just seen with the NDAA, the “Homeland” is now the battlefield and we are all potential enemy combatants. The fact is we have all been considered belligerents since the war of federal aggression was decided against the states’ sovereignty. The spoils, in the form of tributum are extracted from the fruits of our labor by the victorious sovereign (the federal gov’t.) and it’s agents (the state gov’ts. and corporate bedfellows) on such a regular basis, we now consider it “normal”.
As more Amerikans wake up to the effects of over-taxation, monetary inflation, plethoric regulation and “public policy” we start looking for the source of our misery. The parasite class behind all this and their sycophants are justifiably nervous that the peasants may soon be headed their way with pitchforks and torches. So the selection process for domestic police looks suspiciously like the selection process for occupying mercenaries. The PTB need merciless sadists or at least order-followers to “maintain order” here on the “battlefield” that was once America. We’ve gone from “we need to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here” to Americans ourselves being potential enemy combatants (a.k.a. “homegrown terrorists”) because we have an interest in the Constitution, own “too many guns” or camo clothing or even show public support for Ron Paul.
When I see the crew-cut constabulary in black BDU’s, toting assault rifles and acquiring APC’s capable of withstanding .50 BMG rounds, for me the game is up. Basically what it’s come down to is we are going to be raped, pillaged and plundered by our rulers. We can pretend to enjoy it, publicly wave the victor’s flag, keep our heads down and mouths shut or else face the batons and pepper spray of their enforcers. Like a bad marriage, it’s all going to come to a head. The only question now is will we be granted a divorce or end up beaten and chained the basement?
The cops now treat us all like we’re Iraqis.
Indeed.
Someone made the point that you can’t expect a government that’s despotic and tyrannical abroad to be decent and respectful to its citizens at home. It’s one of those either/or deals. Either you respect other people’s rights – or you don’t. It’s not possible to respect some people’s rights and still have any respect for the concept of rights.
Excellent article on the different types of cops. The type one cop started coming out during the 1970’s as the 55 mph speed limit made criminals of over 80 percent of drivers. Their populations exploded as during the 1980’s as it and the War on Drugs came about. The show COPS shows their mod-us opperendi pretty well.
The type two cop is found most often on YouTube yelling, screaming, macing, pepper spraying and brutalizing innocent motorists and protesters. When they cannot take the “suspect”on themselves, they often work in teams with 4 or 5 of them kicking their victim into submission. This type of cop was virtually non existant until the late 1990’s although maybe their actions could be spotted during the Rodney King beatings, which caused the 1991 LA riots. Today, these modern power lusters have mobile command centers, high powered rifles, armored cars and tanks and roadside laboratories and fancy computer systems to dominate and control their victims.
This is a sick state of affairs. I don’t know how you “fight back” at all. Honest citizens are out gunned for sure.
Thanks, Henry!
Maybe 2012 will be a better year; here’s to hoping so….
Honest citizens are out gunned for sure.
We’re outgunned in weapons per individual, but we vastly outnumber the thugs. The way things are going, I wouldn’t want to be a cop, no matter how much fancy hardware they gave me to play with.
I work with an ex-cop who said he applied to the LAPD because he wanted to work south Compton and “really challenge himself”. His desire to be a cop had nothing to do with protecting the rights of others, or even enforcing the law for that matter. It was all about him.
He has told me many stories about “being on the job” and everything everyone fears is correct and they should be afraid.
He hasn’t been a cop for over 20 years and has since come to his senses, and I think I may have even brought him over to the light side and turned him onto Ron Paul. 😉
I know one state cop. He and I get along pretty well. We both like old motorcycles and kind of bonded on that. But I am fairly sure he’d treat me very differently if he didn’t know me and I was just another “speeder” (or whatever). It’s sad, in addition to being scary.
That ex-cop would never have gone to “south Compton” under LAPD. Compton uses the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, which is separate from LAPD and is just as crooked and brutal.
Dear Eric,
How did we get to this point?
What has so groomed and nurtured these skinhead Geheime Staatspolizei wannabes with such a lust to dominate? What has lead young people away from the honest production of wealth to state sanctioned thuggery?
Perhaps the corrupt state and its many laws ever wanting for enforcers? Widespread abandonment of the no harm-no foul social contract? Or…Wee children exposed early and often to costumed agents of the state in public schools?
My primary school age grandchildren explain to me the presence of “resource officers” in their schools. After learning more, I understand these “officers” are commissioned police, stationed every school day in an ELEMENTARY school. I’m told middle and high schools have a greater police presence.
I recall first learning the term “police state” from my father: Watching grim newsreels of dead East Germans dangling from the barbed wire of the newly erected Berlin wall, my dad explained that it can’t happen here.
Alas, it is happening here. From an early and impressionable age, children are taught to accept that the in-your-face, truncheon carrying, mace spraying, armor-clad agent IS government. They learn reading, writing, ‘rithmatic…and submission.
So naturally, to what loftier career goal might they aspire?
Nothing so mundane as engineer, doctor, merchantman, or mechanic…no, “protect the Homeland!”
Are they learning the Horst-Wessel song?
Regards,
Tom Hallett
Hi Tom,
I think part of it is our culture rewards (and so begets and causes to proliferate) a certain “type.” Certain types, actually. It’s a sort of negative eugenics in that the worst sort is encouraged – and thrives – while the better sort is punished and gradually diminished.
For a country (or society) to go off the cliff into authoritarianism, it must have a working majority of people who crave authoritarianism. Within this group there will be a few psychopathic personality types; these become the “leaders” – and the administrators – of the authoritarian system as it blossoms and matures.
There’s a really excellent book by a guy named Leonard Peikoff called The Ominous Parallels – it compares the nascent American fascist state with an earlier fascist state, pointing out the similarities “then” vs. “now.” It was written in the ’70s but it’s still current, in terms of the ideas (and examples) discussed.
Tom, Eric,
Excellent words, both of you!
I recommend two books:
Political Ponerology by Lobaczewski describes political evil manifested by psycho-/socio-paths
The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot by Naomi Wolf. She describes just what it sounds like Piekoff does–the shocking parallels between 1930’s Germany and us today.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. The Republic is dying but we can save it with ideas.
I have a copy of Peikoff’s book in hardcover. There is a kind of philosophical-spiritual (non-theological sense) vacuum here that is easily filled by authoritarianism.
What so amazes me is that collectivism in all its various forms has been shown to be a such miserable failure wherever it’s been tried, from the earliest days of the Pilgrim Fathers to the Soviet Union, we invariably elect leaders who push for more programs and wars. There is really no excuse for it. I trace the root of of the problem to the public schools where most teachers, indoctrinated in state run institutions themselves, honestly don’t know any better.
Ah, but the reason depends on what the object is.
For the Clovers – the people afflicted with the desire to control/dominate others – collectivism is the mechanism. This – control – is all that matters to them. Not efficiency; certainly not the “public good.”
Just control. Power over others.
In 1984, the character O’Brien explains this in depth to his victim, Winston Smith:
And now let us get back to the question of “how” and “why”. You understand well enough how the Party maintains itself in power. Now tell me why we cling to power. What is our motive? Why should we want power? Go on, speak,’ he added as Winston remained silent.
‘Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?’