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| Home Front: Politix | |
| Is Ferguson the start of a 'libertarian moment' | |
| 2014-08-15 | |
| [BBC] Much of the commentary on the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting death of Michael Brown by a police officer has been dominated by liberal outrage over what some see as racial injustice. There is, however, a growing chorus from the conservative movement's libertarian wing that connects the perceived overreaction by a militarised local law enforcement to their critique of the heavy-handed power of government. "The state is big and powerful and violent and can hurt you, whether it's the FDA, the state prosecutor or the local police force," writes Hot Air blog's Mary Katharine Ham, concisely summarising the gist of this libertarian argument. Breitbart's John Nolte puts it a bit more sharply: "The media hate police but without them, who will ultimately force us to buy ObamaCare and confiscate our guns?" On Wednesday night Congressman Justin Amash, a libertarian-leaning Republican embraced by the grass-roots Tea Party movement, tweeted that the news from Ferguson was "frightening", asking: "Is this a war zone or a US city? Gov't escalates tensions w/military equipment & tactics."
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #26 Somebody (Mark Steyn?) made the comment that the police have all sorts of mil surp goodies, but never spent the pittance on body or dash-cams, something that would go a long way to clear up the he-said/she-said. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-08-15 22:44 |
| #25 I made a lot of comments on this thread and I need to make something clear. While I'm certain Brown was a thug, I'm equally certain the police are way to geared up like ninja posers. With that said, I'm not exactly sure what a libertarian is, hell I cant even spell it, I am not associating myself with them or their politics.... |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-08-15 22:10 |
| #24 The main issue with Libertarianism as a political philosophy is, as V. Ulyanov (Lenin) said, "You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you." |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2014-08-15 19:56 |
| #23 'Lived' not 'lied'. Wasn't a Freudian slip, just lack of glasses at the moment. :)) |
| Posted by: borgboy 2014-08-15 18:35 |
| #22 Imagine police facing that crowd and being armed with night sticks? On the other hand, do they have to be armed like an SS Panzer Divison? This is a complex multifaceted situation. Too early to sort it all out. I lied thru the riots in the '60s and the cops were underarmed and major city centers burned. |
| Posted by: borgboy 2014-08-15 18:33 |
| #21 How many of you were in the LA riots back in 1992? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-08-15 16:09 |
| #20 I also worry about the militarization of police forces from federal agencies to state and local agencies. You often wonder who they are at war with. That said, I also recall the North Hollywood shootout with two dedicated bank robbers dressed-out in protective gear and automatic weapons. Also the FBI shootout with a couple of bank robbers in Miami some years ago. In both of these cases, the police were outgunned badly. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-08-15 15:52 |
| #19 I wonder what George Zimmerman thinks of it? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2014-08-15 15:28 |
| #18 Sorry, my rhetoric/sarcasm filter is fused solid. |
| Posted by: Sonny Glarong6820 2014-08-15 15:17 |
| #17 Sonny, it was rhetorical. This is a bit out of control. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-08-15 15:07 |
| #16 It is as if they suspect a war is coming and I'd like to know if they think it is an enemy foreign or domestic. You can't be that naive. They have been planning and preparing for war against the American people. We are to be delivered up to our new masters. Care to guess whom that might be? Even some podunk farming town in MO got two MRAPS and the police said it was because of armed veterans. What is happening? What do your instincts and military experience tell you is happening? |
| Posted by: Sonny Glarong6820 2014-08-15 14:47 |
| #15 Their procedures are broken and heavy handed... Where do these procedures come from, who trains them? Do you know? Department by department they are being trained by Israeli Contractors in anti-terrorist tactics. At the behest of DHS. Police Chiefs and SWAT personnel are also traveling to Israel to attend seminars and training camps. Lots going on in the march to establish a full blown police state here. I wonder what they're planning. |
| Posted by: Sonny Glarong6820 2014-08-15 14:41 |
| #14 I also think dashboard cams should be supplemented iwth cameras all over the police car so they have hard evidence quick to settle disputes of this type. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-08-15 14:20 |
| #13 Personally i wonder about the paramilitarization of the police. I understand the aggressive attitude, intimidate quick so the suspect backs down, but that doesn't explain all the hardware. It is as if they suspect a war is coming and I'd like to know if they think it is an enemy foreign or domestic. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-08-15 14:19 |
| #12 The video is pretty damning to the cop if Brown didn't use a weapon in the robbery. We need video of the actual shooting to make a proper judgement if the cop had reason to fear for their life or not. But then minds are made up, narratives are fixed, and nothing short of lynching the cop will suffice. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2014-08-15 14:18 |
| #11 Two separate issues. Brown was a thug, the stills show it. He will be tried and found to be a sweet young misunderstood boy by the press. Not fair or true, but its beyond real justice now. The police issue is another thing all together. The cops were carrying M4 assault rifles. Do they really think they needed that much firepower? Did they really think they would fire these weapons? Bringing out the MRAP is another giant fail. Even DOD would not have acted in such an amateur way. The M4's had flip sites, dot sites, and a scope, all stacked on the rail. This what posers at the gun club do. The Chief of police said they were all SWAT, really? How many SWAT teams do they have? Then he said they were all in blue, nope, in black. I understand what he meant, no military, but they looked like storm troopers. I am a huge supporter of law enforcement but this is out of control from the top down. Their procedures are broken and heavy handed, they did not distinguish between protestors and non involved civilians, they gassed the press and illegally detained the press. They closed the airspace, effectively evoking a police state. They puked all over our constitution and then acted as if it was ok. This is frightening in that all police forces have been building the same capability. Even some podunk farming town in MO got two MRAPS and the police said it was because of armed veterans. What is happening?? |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2014-08-15 13:33 |
| #10 There are security video stills showing Michael Brown strong-arming a convenience store guy just before he got killed. Brown is a huge guy even tho only 18. This thing ramped up in a matter of minutes to out-of-control as do most riots. I'm thinking the eye-witnesses are not very reliable. "Trevon syndrome" at work. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-08-15 11:16 |
| #9 Police stonewalling the locals is never a good recipe. Police there think their job is to intimidate and control, rather than protect, the public. Thats why they diet explain anything, nor reach out to a community that was obviously ready to boil over. This whole mess could have been avoided, had the police acted like police, and not paramilitary. (Even our professional military would have handled it differently, engaging in some pyops "meeting with the locals" stuff to tamp down the hostility) |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2014-08-15 11:00 |
| #8 Rioters and Looters - The Left: "you need to understand why they are rioting and address the underlying causes". Tea Party - The Left: "Terrorists!" |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-08-15 09:20 |
| #7 "Start of a libertarian movement?" Maybe not so much. Just the usual garden variety rioting, attendant looting, and Al Sharpton. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2014-08-15 09:03 |
| #6 Just don't pick on the locals. As seen at the Bundy Ranch, Homeland Security needs to be demilitarized, physically and culturally as well. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-08-15 09:01 |
| #5 Any bets on the gender of the police officer involved in the shooting, who had to receive medial attention, and must now have their identity protected ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-08-15 07:20 |
| #4 For each racial injustice: riot and get your free flat screen TV. |
| Posted by: borgboy 2014-08-15 04:03 |
| #3 Just a very small taste of what might take place with a Champ impeachment. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-08-15 03:03 |
| #2 Law and order starts with the police obeying the law. Don't MRAPs mean they are above the law? |
| Posted by: gorb 2014-08-15 00:22 |
| #1 After watching lots of video and reading respectable journalists (yes, some do still exist)it has become apparent that this isn't a police force. It is a paramilitary unit. While the local reaction is stupid, destructive and does nothing to better anyone, it is expected considering the oppression of the paramilitary units. I expect to see paramilitary units looking and acting like this in Egypt or Iran. Not in our own midwest. Something has gone horribly wrong and needs to be addressed before full outright conflict. I have been arguing against the militarization of the police for years and really don't want to see a unit of police/Spetsnaz roaming my neighborhood. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2014-08-15 00:10 |