“We pay officers of the law to, simply, enforce the law. Nothing less. Nothing more. And that’s precisely what they do. They enforce the law. At every chance they get.”
“Whether it’s another man accosted and killed for selling cigarettes on the sidewalk (Garner), or another accosted and killed for selling CDs and reportedly having a gun (Sterling), or yet another accosted for a broken tail-light and killed for… what exactly, I’m not sure (Castile).”
“The officers risk life and limb not to keep citizens safe, or protect their lives, liberty or property. Officers risk their lives to enforce the law.”
“Police are not paid to be moralizers. They’re not paid to step up on a soapbox and pound their fists at the nation’s injustices. They are paid, simply, to make sure citizens conform to what the law says. They are paid to get citizens to “stop resisting” the long arms of lawmakers. And that’s what they do.”
“The lawmakers, of course, are more than happy to oblige our desires to control one another’s actions through the creation of new laws. New laws legitimize the lawmakers and make them feel important. Plus, unlike us plebeians, the lawmakers are normally immune to the blowback of the laws they create. So, for them, it’s a positive-sum game.”
“Even if the cop is a crook, dangerous, or mentally unstable, he is empowered by the laws we beg our lawmakers to make. Our only “proper” role in this relationship is not to resist.”
“So let’s remove the burden from the police and the impositions on the populace at the same time by repealing all laws that do not explicitly defend life and property.”
‘We Expect Too Much of the Police’
Obama says we expect too much of the police. He’s right. But not in the way he means…