From @WilbotOsterman:
Cops empty out Occupy Chapel Hill with assault rifles like it’s Baghdad. They really love protecting banks’ property
This is beyond disturbing. Do they think this is Call of Duty or something? The militarization of the police force in the US is ridiculous. It’s almost as if some of these cops want to be military, but not deployed.
It’s sick.
This is what libertarians are talking about when they talk about coercion.
The Occupy folks aren’t obeying the law with their encampments. Whether that’s a big deal or not is debatable. But the picture above shows how law is enforced.
Whenever you pass a law, the picture above is what enforces it.
The picture above is why libertarians don’t think we should pass laws unless they are really, really, really, really necessary. Sure, you can always pay your fine and say you’re sorry. Because those who don’t accept that what they’ve done is wrong will always get the treatment in the picture above.
The picture above is the Obamacare insurance mandate.
The picture above is eminent domain.
The picture above is taxation.
The picture above is the war on drugs.
The picture above is environmental regulation.
The picture above is antitrust law.
The picture above is immigration law.
The picture above is conscription.
The picture above is campaign finance reform.
The picture above is every law against unpasteurized milk. It’s the seatbelt law. It’s zoning. It’s regulations about what wood can be used to make guitars.
The picture above is how we finance our wars. It’s how we provide healthcare for our elderly. It’s a prescription drug plan.
The picture above is what you have to be comfortable with every time you support the passage of a law. And if you’re not comfortable with the picture above, then you shouldn’t be comfortable with the law you just passed.
I’m not saying that we don’t need laws. I’m just saying that laws are serious things, and too many people treat them like trifles. Our politicians vote for 1000 pages bills they haven’t read that that don’t make any sense, and then they forget about it … and three years later someone is on the other end of an assault weapon, praying they aren’t shot by an officer who is “just doing his job.”
The police that the Occupy folks complain about are the same police so many of them want to send to arrest everyone on Wall Street, for crimes can’t actually identify. This ought to make them think a little about what their demands ought to be. It ought to, but it won’t. And that’s the saddest thing about the picture above.
(via deadlybrad42)
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