Quote (Surfpunk @ Oct 18 2022 05:43pm)
Police unions aren't even unions. They're good ol' boy clubs that protect bad cops. The poor ask for cops because no one is willing to actually address the root issues that cause crime in the first place: wealth and opportunity inequality. You know how you mentioned the ultra wealthy being insulated from crime? They've lobbied for laws that shield themselves and their property from the rest of us for decades. They'll ignore root causes, but they're more than willing to build walls and staff them with armed people to protect their own. That isn't exclusive to any party affiliation (NewsCorp, Apollo Global Management, Sinclair all come to mind as large right-leaning media corps).
They have to keep the masses distracted with news of skyrocketing crime, because if people knew the reality being swept under the rug, they'd be at their doors with torches and pitchforks.
Crime is a concern, but it's not the greatest one. Not even close.
Of course they're unions, you're uncomfortable because you're being forced to see them from a different point of view. We let teacher unions destroy millions of years of cumulative education, with a
disastrous opportunity inequality impact. Public sector unions are universally atrocious, and should be disbanded.
Special laws aren't required, you or I can do it just fine. You get a professional job, move a cars distance outside of the city, and buy a few big dogs. Your community of like-minded white collar professionals can afford to pool resources for a well-funded police force and school district, and you all raise your children in two-parents households that can afford the vastly larger time and money commitments that sets children ahead. Your children grow up with the benefit of parents who understand how the white collar world works, which in turns places them in a commanding position to avoid the various pitfalls of early life and graduate into a white collar profession of their own.
There are many people, white, black, and Hispanic, who aren't in a remotely similar position. Perhaps their parents worked hard blue-collar jobs, and they didn't have the luxury of a college education. They might be underbanked, or their parents might have limited experience with finance. It's a much harder path. And within that are the personal characteristics that define the individual. Do you like to read, whereas perhaps your siblings don't? Are you particularly intelligent, personable, or you simply have a strong work ethic? You might be prone to drink, or lucky insofar as vices don't interest you. None of that is fair, and neither is life. Whether you're born intelligent or stupid has nothing to do with your merit. But it's not for society to correct for those imbalances, if you need educated people to run the economy, you'll get better results if you pay them well for it. If you need soldiers, you make sure the benefits of service outweigh the risks, and if you want competent government officials, you ensure their skill is rewarded. As Marx said, socialism is a dictatorship of the proletariat, and dictatorship in the literal sense of the word. As they say, you get what you pay for.