263 Comments

As Thomas Sowell once said, we have to stop judging programs, government initiatives, and taxation policies by their intention, versus their outcome. You’ve written a beautiful article on the unintended consequences of focusing on policy “desires,” instead of policy outcomes!!!

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By all means, let’s defund the police.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

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I do not attribute to the "defund the police" any "noble" motivations. I believe it is only about obtaining power. First, you destroy the institutions that support society. Then, you instigate violence and chaos to terrify citizens. Then you cancel anyone who has the common sense and courage to fight back politically. Then you promulgate the "helpless" mindset. Then you "ride in on your white horse" with a promise of security. Then you just wait for people to vote for the propagandized security that a totalitarian state will bring. Next thing you know, you are in charge.

An earlier column by Bari, one of the best I've ever read, highlighted the need for courage in these crazy (literally - crazy) times. We are starting to see some glimmers of that - Enes Kanter Freedom (even though he challenges China, it's a demonstration others can follow for issues here), Tulsi Gabbard, parents fighting dictatorial school boards (another regular topic for Bari), and the growing resistance to the fraud that is Dr. Fauci and his policies being forced on citizens by a captured Congress and bureaucratic state (the profit earned by pharma through their kickba...I mean...sponsorship of government dictates is repulsive).

I don't think it is too late for us to save the greatest country the world has ever seen - a country that has done more good for more people around the world for more years than any country that preceded it (yes, this country has flaws and has pursued some terrible foreign policies).

But it is getting close to "too late".

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Another huge problem of progressives' policies such as "defund the police" and others cited here, and their effects on the crime rate, is the impact on women's rights. We've come so far the last few decades, and now we're just going to slide back? I'm reading this, as a fit 200 lb male in NYC thinking "well.. it might be a good idea to start carrying mace or a small telescoping baton.." just in case. But really I'm just not messed with and generally not afraid wherever I go. But what about my daughter, sisters, mom, and female friends? The default targets of these crimes based on being avg 130lb and often with children in tow? They just have to settle for being victims or, at least, live in constant fear of being one? How have we come so far only to settle for sliding back now into such a recessive and backwards culture?

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Progressives...Good Intentions = Unintended Consequences

Ruining Society Since The 1960's

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There's a line from George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier that Jordan Peterson likes to paraphrase as "Socialists don't really care about the poor, they just hate the rich".

That seems applicable to the Defund the Police movement as well - progressives don't really care about inner city communities, they just have a general hatred of cops as authority figures.

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founding

"The shooting didn’t even make the local news. Apparently, in the Bay Area right now, you can walk up a residential street firing your gun into houses, and you still won’t be able to compete for attention with all of the other sensational crimes."

You know why it did not make the news? Because it did not happen in Texas....

if it was in Texas, the media would be kicking and screaming about it.

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Want to hear about another warning that was ignored? FDR warned against making government employees unions. JFK ignored him and signed an executive order. In turn, many cops such as Derek Chauvin - like union MUNI bus drivers, etc., - are allowed to rack up terrible records with impunity, until their worst actions set off a chain reaction that is counterproductive to say the least. No politician of course will touch the possibility of undoing that status quo. But maybe it’s time that pundits such as yourselves, did.

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I'm wondering how Mr. Woodhouse rationalizes staying a progressive, given his acknowledgement that the policies progressives promote destroy our cities and cause so much suffering...doesn't make sense.

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I live in liberal progressive land and have been debating the species for decades on many subjects, but primarily on the subject of law enforcement. There is really some screw-loose in the heads of my lefty friends... it is indicative in their inability to weigh larger consequences of their positions and actions while they fixate on some ever-growing feeling of unfairness.

Their "progressive" label and claim is really just that... their inability to control a drift toward an increasing granular assessment of harm and unfairness... it is like they NEED this constant flow of cause to make them feel good in some way. So they can never admit to progress because criticism is their stock and trade. They can also never really connect with a comprehensive view of actions and consequences because they ignore the big picture as it does not feed them enough required emotive stew.

It is a sickness. It really is. They can be diagnosed as mentally dysfunctional if they are so committed to radical social justice cause being a key need for the modern human condition. It does not mean that they are ignorant or low-IQ... on the contrary... many of them are the most well-read with strong academic genes bouncing around their system.

But they should never be allowed to control the political apparatus that has control over the judicial and law enforcement. It is like giving the keys to the asylum to the inmates.

Where they do belong is participating on community police oversight committees so they help resolve ACTUAL police abuse of power. The should also advocate for criminal law reform for victimless crimes. But their sickness is a danger to everyone if they are allowed the power over the law AND law enforcement. This should be clear to everyone now.

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Affluent progressives deserve every bit of pain and mayhem they have conjured for the rest of us. I thoroughly enjoy watching their communities collapse, and I hope it gets much worse for them. For those of us who respect reality it sure is good to see it asserting itself again.

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Odd how the whole article does not once, use the word 'black'. The whole rise in murders is taking place in predominantly black neighborhoods, black perps, black victims, mass lootings by black gangs. Too uncomfortable to mention? Righteous black rage or criminal license sanctioned by white guilt?

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Boo effing hoo. As a regressive YOU caused this. YOU voted for the mopes that are in charge. YOU provide excuses like, it’s not all regressive cities (actually YES it is). No doubt YOU would vote for the same mopes all over again.

These people are either communists or anarchists. Say bye bye to your wonderful life because they’ll be coming for YOU. You think racism was bad in the “bad” old days? Just wait for it. You’re in a race war now buddy and it’s only going to get worse unless YOU and your fellow nut regressives wake up.

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Serious question: what, exactly, is so "progressive" about giving criminals the upper hand?

My family moved to this country when I was 10 years old, and we lived in Queens NYC during the 70's/80's. I got jumped on the street more times than I can remember, and walked around with a can of mace in one pocket, and a sharp object in the other. My high school friend was murdered in cold blood on a street corner in our neighborhood. I will never forget seeing him in the casket when I was 16 years old.

Now that NYC seems to be in a race to get back to those crime levels, I see "progressives" virtue signaling to death about how "it's not so bad as it was back then, cos they were there" (or some other bullshit defense of the current crime surge). Why are they defending crime? No one wants to live like that now, even if you survived the 70's/80's. It was shit then, and it's shit now. Defending it doesn't make anyone look tough or "progressive" the way they think it does. It just makes them look like the idiots they really are.

There's nothing cute about getting shot, stabbed, slashed, sucker punched, or shoved in front of a moving train. If the "progressives" lived in my old neighborhood, they might have a better appreciation of what people really deal with in poorer communities 🤔

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PRO CRIMINAL

Let's call it what it is.

"Defund Police" is just a polite slogan for people who favor criminals and are unbothered by criminal activity.

I actually believe the police and justice needed to be reformed. But the Progressives went WAY TO FAR. They allowed themselves to get hijacked by the more radical elements who are actually pro-criminal. IMO they were all too willing to be hijacked because they do not deal in reality.

There is NO WAY that a 7x offender should be getting bail. NO WAY a grown man who punches a defenseless woman in the FACE should be out on the street in a few hours. This is MADNESS.

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“The push to defund the police has typically been more popular in higher income areas of progressive cities like Oakland—areas where crime and violence are more of an abstraction than a daily reality.” Rob Henderson is the person who proposed the idea of “luxury beliefs”, which people use as signifiers of their status. People who hold these beliefs are not affected by the damage that results from them. If you want to defund the police, it likely means that you are wealthy enough to live in a neighborhood free of crime. More recently as crime has spread to wealthier neighborhoods, instead of backtracking on their naive, utopian ideas about policing, residents have started hiring private security. Again, they are least affected by their beliefs. I am hopeful that eventually these beliefs will fall out of favor, but I don’t know if they will. It feels like people are now brainwashed, and can’t see what is right in front of them.

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