It should go without saying that no American, regardless of their ethnicity, political affiliation, or legal status should have to fear being gunned down while unarmed in the streets or even in their own home by the very governmental apparatus sword to “protect and serve” them, however that seems to actually be a real issue in America today.

And, instead of seeking common ground on meaningful police reform that would absolutely save lives, the Republican Party faithful are far too obsessed with their opposition to the unrelated political aims of the Democratic Party to even consider talking about measures that could save people’s lives, because they care more about politics than rights.

I don’t have to agree with the economic aims of groups like #BlackLivesMatter in order to support their right to start a meaningful discussion on police violence and criminal justice reform. Just because they are obviously wrong about issues of economics and centralized government, does not necessarily mean that they are wrong about pervasive racism and out of control police violence.

I also don’t have to reject the main premise of #BackTheBlue, specifically that being a police officer is a dangerous, difficult, and, all too often, thankless job. I also recognize that law enforcement officers play an essential part in any meaningful system of jurisprudence and are often literally the night watchman of the libertarian minarchist state apparatus.

Unfortunately, we live in a society dominated by people who are completely incapable of nuanced political discussion while simultaneously shaping political discourse by virtue of there being so many of them, and, even if our politicians were capable of spending twenty minutes talking about solutions, their bigoted constituents would actually punish them for it.

People continue to die, while nothing changes, so it’s absolutely time that the silenced minorities stand up and shout down the bigoted majority. In the tradition of the Founding Fathers, it’s time to demand change with a voice that will be heard. Peaceful protests are only as effective as the state is benevolent, but it’s becoming harder to watch the armed state reaction against peaceful protestors and think that our state is benevolent.

Just based on the violence that’s been used against people marching against police violence, it’s clear that the time has come to #DisarmThePolice. What that looks like is a matter of discussion, but it’s clear that the rank and file police officer is simply cannot be trusted with deadly weapons. I propose having only Special Weapons and Tactics (S.W.A.T.) units be allowed to use deadly force in any jurisdiction and limiting the use of SWAT units to only those situations where (unarmed) police have been fired upon.

Regardless, there just has to be an alternative to what we have now.

Liberty is For The Win!