Politics after the Death of George Floyd

As citizens of a free country, Americans have a responsibility to watch, “second guess”, and restrain and control the police. Police – local, state, and federal – have a lot of power, and some of them  abuse that power and commit crimes.  It is said that the case of George Floyd has led many people to realize this. If so, those people must not have been paying much attention. There was plenty of evidence and cases before. Regardless, the killing of Floyd has definitely put questions concerning police and policing in the news and on people’s minds.

Conservatives generally support the police and tend to give their behavior the benefit of the doubt.  However I know of no one among conservatives who is defending what the cop did  to  George Floyd. Given the desire of people in the traditional media to portray conservatives in a bad light, we probably would have heard about if they had been able to come up with one. 

Libertarians usually believe that all government power, including that of the police,  should be strictly limited and carefully controlled.  I would guess that most of them would see what happened to Floyd as another illustration of the validity of that belief. 

Leftists have an interesting problem.  People who last month were proclaiming that the police are the sole and sufficient guardians of life and property, and that everyone else should be disarmed, leaving only them with guns, are now declaring that cops are vicious, untrustworthy racial bigots who hassle, abuse, and murder people just for the hell of it. It will be amusing to see how leftist candidates square those  two opinions in the coming election.

Some on the left are calling for abolishing local police altogether. That won’t happen, even in cities completely controlled by  Democrats. There may be a few symbolic budget cuts in a few places  in the name of “defunding” to satisfy angry leftist voters, but  I doubt if even that will go very far. The fact is that while we would not need the police (or the rest of government)  in a world where almost everyone was decent and rational, that world does not exist, and police are needed.

There is a way for serious leftists to sort of defund the police in their own lives however. They can put two signs on the front door of their residences. One, which should already be there for those serious about taking guns away from people, would state that everyone on the property is unarmed and has no means of self defense. The  other would announce that the residents oppose the police and will not call them under any circumstance or for any reason.  That would be putting their money and their hides where their mouths are.