Demilitarize, don’t defund
I grew up in west Texas where cops would kick your ass for running a stop sign, going two miles over the limit, or skipping school. Whining about it only got you more punishment. Judges were considered paragons of virtue and sinners were incarcerated until they repented or died. No mercy was shown by teachers at school and being whipped by a length of rubber garden hose across the back of your thighs was supposed to instill fear in you and make you a better person. None of their fearmongering and beatings cured me. By the time I was twelve the state of Texas deemed me incorrigible. Incapable of rehabilitation and unworthy of being a productive member of polite society.
In high school, I was considered the local sissy and an open target for ridicule and continuous beat downs. I quickly learned that being different was not only unacceptable, but subject to dire consequence. Due to the mindset of the people around me, I became a fugitive seeking escape from the world I lived in. Only when I reached adulthood, was I capable of roaming free without the restrictions of bible thumpers, prigs and moralists. Leaving Texas behind was the beginning of a life without constraint.
For a moment, Haight Ashbury offered the freedom I sought, but the incessant hunger and needs of the revelers soon crushed the idea of a utopian society. Exploiters exploited the weak and naïve. Parasites latched onto those willing to dedicate their souls to a more enlightened society and give without discrimination. Drug addicts and rapists soon populated streets previously relegated to free concerts and love. Even the free box of unwanted clothing became a toilet for those uncaring of sharing with others. In the end, cops prevailed and a brief moment of enlightenment was ground to dust beneath the wheels of indifference. Those who stayed peddled souvenirs of an idea whose time had passed to tourists.
Decades unwound and the world showed momentary sparks of enlightened brilliance, but the savage nature of man constantly resisted change. I found myself transitioning to an entirely different persona but felt hemmed in by those same moralists who sought to make me be like them or be exterminated. Even with my embedded dislike and disrespect for authority, I realized that without law enforcement the world descends into chaos and thuggery. Nothing is sacred and only those willing to sacrifice the dreams and hopes of others survive. Cops are necessary to maintain some degree of civility in a species that preys on itself.
These days, I understand the plight of those who’ve suffered the slings and arrows of human interaction. I sympathize with their pain but want to remind them that life on this planet has never been easy or kind. What happiness we find can easily be crushed by outside forces. Now that our country has descended into a state of misinformation, illogical hatred, and factional separation, we run the risk of eliminating our species from an evolving biosphere that will leave us to petrify without the slightest concern while other organisms flourish and gain dominance.
Recent legislation has given hope of eventual equality to the LGBTQ community but it doesn’t stop haters from hating. It doesn’t disarm those willing to kill them goddamn queers. We need protection from law enforcement or we’ll be hunted down like animals and slaughtered. Defunding and punishing police forces without clear evidence of malfeasance and disregard for their rights as citizens will lead to a state of mind where no one wants to be a cop anymore. That will allow the thugs of this world to dominate and ruin the lives of every-day people. However, demilitarizing police forces is essential to stop the beatings, racial profiling etc. When they show up to a protest in full riot gear and ready to fight, it is inevitable that someone will start one. We seem to have lost the art of negotiation and debate.
I consider it a sad state of affairs when our elected officials are only concerned with their own needs and have abandoned the pursuit of liberty and justice for all. We voted for them because they promised to serve us and enhance our quality of life, but in that respect they’ve failed badly. Once their lips are attached to the public tit, they suck till it’s dry and leave us to suffer in squalor. Even though I recognize the heroism and good intentions of the majority of them, I still fear cops because they’ve become tools of those who wish me harm. Most of us and them have no idea what we’re fighting about but blindly follow orders.
Power has been granted to those seeking to abuse it rather than enlisting those intelligent enough to discern the difference between outright thuggery and disdain, loitering without intent, or simple stupidity. Laws need to change. People need to change. Our very existence is on the line. We possess the weapons to destroy our culture but also hold the tools to fine-tune it into a spectacular machine churning out abundance for all. I don’t care if some guy has more cars than he can drive and a trophy wife that will milk him for millions in the divorce. I just don’t want him legislating me into a corner where my broken-down old van and I no longer have the right to use the road. Quit using cops to kill us. I beg you to grant me this simple request. I believe and understand that they are humans with feelings about family and friends, just like me. Does it always have to be an us or them scenario? I’d love to share the world with you. You might not like me wearing a dress but I might think you look crappy in those jeans. I’m not going to say a word about it or shoot you for dressing the way you like. Love forever, Mizeta.