Politics and Science

             Many policies involving law enforcement are flawed, but public police are best of an unideal situation. If we defund or abolish police run by governments, then police run by corporations will fill the void, and they will be even less accountable. Compare the US military to private military contractors, like Blackwater. As awful as it is that the US military kills people, there is even less accountability for private corporations. Privatizing law enforcement, and abolishing would simply mean privatizing, would be as awful as privately run prisons or the privatized military.             Non-violent protest, like the Civil Rights Movement, can only be effective with a government with a monopoly on the use of force and the rule of law. Think of protestors or activists in other countries, how long do they last without a government that deters violence against them? As awful as force that ...

     Reciprocity is treating others as they treat you. If someone says, “You are such a good person,” then reciprocity would be telling them back, “You are also a good person.” On the other hand, if someone slaps me, then and then I slap them back, that is also reciprocity. There are two types of kindness, positive and negative. Positive kindness is doing something and not expecting anything (no reciprocity) in return. Donating to a charity, teaching someone a skill for free, or lending a neighbor a tool, are examples of positive kindness. Negative kindness is when someone hurts me, and I don’t reciprocate. If someone punches me, and I fall over, but I stand up and walk away, rather than hitting them back, that is negative kindness, because I have not reciprocated.

The US needs universal healthcare, gun regulation, averting the climate crisis, universal suffrage, ways to hold law enforcement accountable, and maybe a worldwide universal basic income of $1-2 dollars per day. I love the rule of law, but the wealthy and powerful are above the law. Only poor people are punished. The wealthy and powerful will survive the climate catastrophe, and then pretend that billions of people never lived after most of humanity is wiped out. They will pretend that the genocide that they perpetrated never happened. Law enforcement tells people to play by the rules, but the rules are specifically designed to prevent any sort of change, the necessary changes that have been waiting for decades. Some people want to prevent reform, and have given up on democracy. Other people try to play by the old rules, which won’t be coming back, and when one side has already knocked over the boardgame. One solution is peaceful mass civil disobedience, or a peaceful mass strike, ...