"There's a reason you separate military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people." ~ Admiral Adama (Battlestar Galactica)
I tend to be rather pro-law enforcement... even through these police shooting stories that get many Liberal's panties in a wad. I have always gotten along quite well with the constabulary even when I was getting pulled over a lot when I drove my meth-mobile-looking beater Volvo until earlier this year. They have a tough and often dangerous job to do and the haters often overlook that part of the story.
That being said, there has been a disturbing trend since 9/11 and the Homeland Security Act: the rapid militarization of our constabulary. Both Liberals and Conservatives alike as well as those from the Center like me view this with varying degrees of trepidation. This trend does not reflect any realities of crime or terrorist activity in our society. It often manifests itself in the heartland interior in even small podunkvilles. Departments of all sizes across our land are beefing up their military-styled SWAT programs and acquiring surplus military equipment like armored personnel carriers. This is driven by greed as homeland security is big business for Big Business. It is also a way for governments to get bigger because they are bureaucracies which tend to have an insatiable appetite for self-perpetuation and accumulation of money and power
However, at what point does our own constabulary no longer serve us but instead serves other agendas? Today we have Gramciian hegemony (Money Power controls indirectly and subtly through proxies and exerts force just under the surface all the while making limited concessions which the masses are content to accept). Does this arrangement metamorphose into something more malevolent down the road?
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