You would think it would be obvious: Reduce the number of police and crime will increase. Let people go instead of sending them to jail after they get caught for committing a crime, and they will continue to commit crimes. That’s about as obvious as gravity, or as Blood Sweat and Tears put it, “What goes up, must come down.”
Cities that overreacted and cut back their police forces found that, you guessed it, crime shot up. Cities that shut down special squads designed to get guns off the street so gun violence flare. Murder rates rose faster than any time since they started keeping records in the 1960s, in some cases doubling. Response time to 911 calls soared, as there were fewer cops available to respond to a growing wave of crime. The city of Austin Texas is not only reversing its 30 percent cut to police, legislation I spending that would mandate additional hiring and spending to maintain an average of at least two police officers for every 1,000 residents after it had to tell residents not to call 911 to report a crime unless it was a matter of life and death.
According to this article, research from Pews found that 47 percent of those surveyed want to increase funding while 15 percent want to reduce it, a radical reversal from a year ago.
Mayors Run on Law and Order
In an example of the pendulum swinging the other direction, candidates for mayor this year are emphasizing law and order instead of pushing to defund the police. New York City just elected a former captain of the police department as mayor, a telling sign that they want stricter enforcement of the city’s laws.
I’m not surprised, but BLM and Antifa are. Leftists assumed they had gotten their way, not realizing that their actions were waking the sleeping bear. Most people want to see more police. In fact, I could argue that those who want fewer police are thinking about doing something illegal and don’t want to get caught.
I think we’re going to see the same pendulum swing against vaccine mandates as well.
Massive Passive Resistance
When people who objected to the COVID-19 vaccine were seen as individuals, they had no power. When you see tens of thousands who refuse and the result is empty fire stations, shut down airlines, trash piling up, a shortage of nurses, and millions of unfilled jobs, you realize there is power in saying “No.” When the Biden Administration realizes these mandates are costing them a combat ready Airforce and a navy that has empty berths on every ship–besides the midterm elections–maybe they’ll pivot back to the center. Bill Clinton would have, because he could read a poll. Biden can barely read a teleprompter.
It’s easy to look at this as a low-point in our culture and complain about unconstitutional mandates, executive orders that exceed presidential authority, and OSHA regulations that won’t withstand scrutiny by any court, but what if this is a turning point? Just like the majority of people now see “defund the police” as a mistake, what if in a year the majority of people may realize forced vaccination was a mistake.
Hell, it might not even take a year.
Fighting Back
Perhaps I am being overly hopeful, but a survey reported today that 30 percent of Republicans say “they think violence may be necessary to solve the problems facing the United States.” I’m not hoping for violence, but I like that attitude and awareness that things are so bad. People have to be pushed to their limit before they stand up and fight back. That may well be what is happening. People are fighting back against teaching Critical Race Theory in schools. They are pushing back against reverse discrimination. Even Netflix is standing up for free speech and refusing to cave.
So yes, I have hope. I have hope that this will be resolved peacefully, possibly by voting out of office a large number of progressive, leftist politicians. Possibly by a crashing economy as people head for Galt’s Gulch and refuse to add their labor and skills to support a corrupt government. But if the end does not come peaceably, I am prepared for that eventuality as well.
And that’s all we, as preppers, can ask of ourselves. Be prepared. For almost any eventuality.
