My wife, the Sarge, came into the living room and caught me crying again. I hate that! I was watching a tribute to the heroes of D-Day and a bunch of ancient warriors were singing their Airborne song and crying, and I was crying. And dang it, I was caught.
The Sarge’s dad fought in the worst battles of the Korean War and told her mom upon returning home after the war that he thought the world was too terrible to bring children into. But then they had the Sarge’s brother and her. That generation always stood up for the flag, the National Anthem, and to shake your hand. That group, and the World War II veterans, created a thriving and growing America and handed it over to my generation of ingrates that created the mess we have today.
The folks who were throwing Frisbees on the mall at our universities years ago never left, and they have now educated us into a real time of crisis. I write this knowing I risk being “canceled” by the oddly totalitarian “liberals,” as well as censored when I try to post this later on the authoritarian Facebook or other social websites. But the all-out assault on our institutions, our heroes, our freedoms, our history, and our values is going full court press right now, and I am going to use this small soapbox to counter all this garbage.
I am amazed at all the “glittering generalities” and “big lies” today’s propaganda outlets spew without any facts. We are told those who disagree should learn to “think critically” and be open to other ideas, which always means “listen but never debate.” In fact, most of the time when an article says we need to use “critical thinking” it means simply, “shut up and believe.”
I listen to some of today’s politicians talk about undefined national sins requiring “defunding,” or “reimagining” American law enforcement without the slightest mention of what the consequence or end of such actions will be. Instead of leadership we get demagoguery; instead of cogent visions of the future we get mystical egalitarian dreams that might just work if you were dealing with a different species than man.
Such egalitarian nonsense always, and I challenge you to find an exception, leads to tragedy. The codeword “equity” simply means we need to take everyone to a final destination in life that invariably is impoverished and miserable. The Soviet Union provides the primary example of this horror. Every aspect of life was eventually controlled by the police to ensure compliance in creating the “New Soviet Man or Woman.” People are not nearly as malleable as utopian dreams require, and history shows that an individualistic society results in freedom, happiness, and justice, while a collectivistic society, where government agents attempt to control every aspect of our lives, does not. In the documentary “Hammer and Tickle,” writer/director Ben Lewis describes how in the Soviet Union even humor was turned into ridicule of those who opposed the State, and how a form of “Anekdoty” or political humor rose up to mock the government and relieve the stress on the common man. It was said, “Stalin laughs at the jokes, and collects the jokers.” It is estimated that approximately 200,000 people were imprisoned under Stalin for telling a joke that could be hurtful “to the Party.” Ask any law enforcement officer fired for a post deemed “hurtful” on one of our social media platforms how close we are to those types of controls.
Governments through the ages have tried to control the masses in many ways; England banned the bagpipes in Scotland after Bonnie Prince Charlie scared the heck out of the Sassenachs (English to non-Scots); they also banned teaching Welsh and Irish Gaelic several times all to no avail… Erin go Bragh!
Culture is a resilient thing and the United States is a deeply individualist society. Even in something as consistent in our country as policing, we have 50 distinct states, each with their own standards and cultural issues. We are bound by a Constitution that is full of positive laws based on natural laws, giving us rights that are not to be taken away by government, and are protected by those sworn to serve it against all enemies “foreign and domestic.”
I think much of the anti-police movement seeks to eliminate this obstacle to collectivist utopia by creating a singular state police, loyal to the government, and not to the principles of freedom, and therefore I challenge our law enforcement leadership to speak forcefully to ensure that the various states retain control over their agencies.
Dave Smith is an internationally recognized law enforcement trainer and is the creator of “JD Buck Savage.” You can follow Buck on Twitter at @thebucksavage.
