Hi Ranty Nation! Ranty McRantyson har agin.

Ah’ve bin thunkin bout them thar protestors we keep hearin bout on them right-wing channels like Faux, uh, ah mean, FOX News, Breitbart, etc. Accordin to them folk, what we’all’re seein right now (under Pres Trump) is whut we’all’re gonna see under a Pres Biden. Y’all know whut? That jus don’t make no sense. We’all’re seein it because of whut Pres Trump is doin!

Them pictures’re of Pres Trump’s Merica!

But them complaints them protesters’re havin dun bin round longer’n Pres Trump. They’re complaints bout the way the POLICE dun be treatin us regular folk.

Ah, remember when ah was a kid that we’all looked up to the police. Well, if’n we didn’t have dark skin color, but even then most folk looked to the police fur help!

Anyhoo, ah thunk an thunk bout it an realized a few thangs. Furst, ah realized that most police cars ah’ve dun seen har in the South don’t have “To Protect and Serve…” on the cars anymore. Ah can’t rightly say exactly when ah furst subconshusly noticed it, but ah’d guess it’s dun bin over 10-15 years now. Second, the whole idea of whut a policeman should be seems to have changed over the last 30-40 years.

Ah hate to say this, but the US, quite frankly, dun be devolvin into a POLICE STATE we’all was warned bout durin the Cold War, in ever sense of the wurd. Now the US may not dun gotten as bad as Communist China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, or even places like the Philippines an Venezuela, but we’all’re gettin close! When we’all get dun git there, we’all’ll have dun lost the democracy our foundin fathers thought they was creatin. Maybe, under Pres Trump, we already have…?

Now don’t get me wrong, all police ain’t bad. Heck, most of em are downright decent folk, jus like y’all an me! But it’s the “bad apples” who’re ruinin it fur everone. That an the fact them bad apples jus don’t seem to get more’n a slap on the wrist when they dun do somethin wrong. The police folk should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one!

Anyhoo…

Food fur Thought

Police State: “1 a nation in which the police, especially a secret police, summarily suppresses any social, economic, or political act that conflicts with governmental policy.” — Dictionary.com

Ok, maybe we’all don’t have a “secret police” that’re bein used to suppress “We, the People”, but we’all sure do have police who thunk they should. Heck, Pres Trump dun sent his own version of Secret Police into some cities an they dun be kidnappin folk off the streets for no reason than they didn’t agree with our “Fearless (Bone Spurs) Leader”.

Implied in that thar definition of Police State, is that the “police” dun be above the law, above justice, above any moral right an wrong. Not better’n, but ABOVE… at least in they own minds. They’re responsible to no regular folk, especially not the folk they’re supposed to be protectin.

Jus take a look at the main wurds in the definitions of “Police” and “Law Enforcement” and y’all can clearly see whut is causin the problem: (Note: them wurds in caps are my emphasis)

Police: “3 the REGULATION AND CONTROL of a community, especially for the maintenance of public order, safety, health, morals, etc.” — Dictionary.com

The key wurd in “Law Enforcement” dun be the Enforce(ment) part.

Enforce: “1 to put or keep in force; COMPEL OBEDIENCE to: to enforce a rule;
2 to obtain (payment, obedience, etc.) by FORCE or COMPULSION.
3 to IMPOSE (a course of action) upon a person:
4 to support (a demand, claim, etc.) by FORCE:” — Dictionary.com

Ah thunk them key wurds are: “regulation and control of a community”, “compel obedience to”, “to obtain… by force or compulsion”, “impose… upon a person”, and “support by force”. Sound familiar?

Nowhere in them thar definitions do they talk bout public safety, protectin, keepin the peace, servin the community, service to the community, justice, etc. An while the idea of “police” an “law enforcement” may dun sound like they’ll lead to public safety, protection, etcetera, we’all can see on the news that ain’t necessarily the case.

IMO, we’all need to change them thar “police” into “peace keepers” who’ll defend the regular folk, not see “We, the People”, as the “great unwashed masses” who need to be “regulated, controlled, compelled, etc. by force”. Maybe takin a page from the British model of policin might be a gud idea: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/why-london-won-t-arm-all-police-despite-severe-terror-n737551

So if’n there dun be any doubt bout whut them protestors’re protestin bout, we’all should jus thunk bout how we’all want the police (“peace keepers”) an law enforcement (“with justice for all”) should be dun! Then if’n the police we’all have now ain’t whut we’all’d like to have, then we’all dun need to change thangs to how we’all want em to be!

As Forrest Gump said, “You’ve got to put the past behind you, before you can move on.” Ah say it dun be time to move on to better policin!

Ranty McRantyson signin off…