Our “Police State”
P. Schultz
January 5, 2015
Make no
mistake about it: Our “police state” is showing its colors. Here [link below] are
many of those labeled “New York’s Finest,” and even some police not from New
York, protesting Mayor de Blasio who was attending and speaking at a funeral of
one of the slain policemen in New York City recently.
In my mind,
there is nothing very important about the protest in itself, just as there is
nothing very important about most protests in our political order. Although not
many would agree, I think that protests solidify rather than undermine the
prevailing alignment of political forces. They might make the protesters feel
good, feel powerful, but what they demonstrate is their relative powerlessness.
As someone wrote somewhere, angry blacks protest, even violently at times,
while angry whites elect the likes of David Duke, Ronald Reagan, or George
Wallace. Who’s got the power? Not the protesters.
And I
believe these protests demonstrate the same phenomenon. Many are upset at the
police for their behavior but why? What does this protest demonstrate? That a
lot of the police don’t like de Blasio? Well, we knew that already. And what is
the effect of this protest? The police decide to make fewer arrests, as if that
demonstrated their power! Think about it: They demonstrate their power,
allegedly, by not using their power. Would that the Freikorp in Germany in the
1920s and 1930s had demonstrated their power this way. This seems to me to be
somewhat analogous to those who would “shut down government” as a way of
demonstrating their power, only to find out this tactic doesn’t work and that
they lose power in the bargain.
The police
think they are protesting de Blasio but, in fact, they are protesting, as all
protests do, the prevailing alignment of political forces. As a result, they
are demonstrating just how politically powerless they are. They can no more
change the basic alignment of forces in New York City by their “show of force”
than the American military could change the basic alignment of forces in
Vietnam, Iraq, or Afghanistan. To change that alignment requires political
action, not military or military-like actions. You would think that, after
several wars that seem to change very little, this would be obvious to more
people.
So, let the
police protest, just as other protesters should be allowed to protest. Neither
set of protesters are a threat to the prevailing political situation. Neither
is a threat to our “civil” society.
No comments:
Post a Comment