THE FRENCH WAY

One of the reasons we live in peace and freedom is that our founding fathers avoided the disaster that was the French revolution. There was equal yearning for freedom in both France and America. But the path moving forward was very different. France became dominated by violent mobs. Ultimately, when mob rule failed, they ended up with dictatorship. The people leading angry mobs are the worst possible choice to lead the way forward.

Our founding fathers chose to develop a form of government that was not the result of  mob rule. That is why we have a House and a Senate. Why we have an Executive and a Supreme Court. Congress, the President and the Supreme Court are co-equal branches of government. There are a set of checks and balances that prevent any one part of government gaining total control. In the same way the House, which is elected every two years, is constrained by the Senate, which has six year terms. In addition, while the House is determined by population, the Senate gets two Senators per state, regardless of size. This was an extremely important compromise. It prevented tyranny. It also prevented mob rule.

Once again, we see angry mobs trying to take over. If we allow that to continue, the inevitable result will be widespread lawlessness and more violence. When we allow the mob to rule, we throw away checks and balances. We also throw away justice. When I see an angry mob screaming no justice, no peace, I realize that justice is the farthest things from their mind. Instead, the leaders of the mob want to seize the day to seize power. Justice has nothing to do with it. Today, far too many Democratic leaders are either embracing the mob or failing to recognize the danger. This is made worse when much of the outrage is based on a false narrative. Far too many people have been convinced, because of irresponsible reporting, that there is a surge in racist white cops shooting innocent black men for no reason. Police shootings of an unarmed person are fortunately rare. Many of the unarmed suspects are not exactly innocent. For example, the man shot by Brooklyn, Mn police posted a picture of himself holding a gun. According to reports, a female officer shot him accidentally, when she thought she was pointing her taser. It should be noted that he was resisting arrest and trying to flee the scene.

The only real solution is to demand an end to mob violence. Mobs should be controlled, and people told the simple truth. When you are screaming at me, threatening violence, you make it impossible for me to hear you.

In Fresno, CA, a white teenager was shot in the back while running away from police. The police officers were not charged. There were no major protests. Should his life matter less because he was white?

 

A young white woman was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer during the protests on January 6, 2021. She was unarmed and was not a threat. Yet, we don’t even know the name of the police officer who shot her. If her life less valuable because she was white?

Minneapolis is about to burn again. The situation is being inflamed by a Governor who criticized the police but did not criticize the rioters. Instead, he said: “We must protect peaceful protest,” while ignoring the reality that these protests are far from peaceful. More importantly, if we accept the demands by the protestors, it will only make things worse. Police are already increasingly afraid to confront violent criminals. The inevitable result of that will be more violence. It is easy to understand. Wise police will wait until after a violent crime has been committed, before acting. Other police will decide it is time to move on to another occupation. Police academies are already sitting empty because no one wants the job. Who can blame them? You are tasked with confronting some of the most violent criminals and if something goes wrong the criminal will be portrayed as a candidate for sainthood accompanied by loud demands that the police be convicted and sentenced to prison. This happens every time, with little or regard for the facts and with even less regard for the consequences.

I do not know if Chauvin will be convicted or not. I do know that violent protests will happen regardless of the results. I also know that much of what has been reported about this situation is extremely misleading and prejudicial to the police. Sadly this reminds me of a time, when Democrats were in control in the South, when a black man was assumed to be guilty because he was black. It will take incredible courage for that jury to make the right decision for the right reasons based solely on the facts and evidence. That is the ultimate tragedy.

When I hear someone screaming “no justice no peace” the only thing certain is that they are not really interested in either justice or peace. But I fear the real danger is that this will increase the racism these protests are allegedly trying to prevent. It serves to only reinforce stereotypes rather than treating everyone as an individual. This unites no one and instead pits brother against brother. The best we can hope for is that our great Democratic experiment will work and remove the people from power who are letting this happen on their watch. The only alternative is seeing a return to the French way, which results in brutal irrational violence followed by dictatorship.

TDM