Law and Order Matters

Police officers in downtown Clarksdale in front of Red’s Lounge on Sunflower Avenue.

By Poor William

“At his best, man is the noblest of all animals: separated from law and justice he is the worst.” — Aristotle, who was not a dumbass  🙂

The worm has turned in the United States, and not for the better. No pretty butterflies exiting cocoons here! Too many folks with shit for brains taking matters into their own ignorant hands: ignorant of history, ignorant of the importance of an orderly, civilized society, and ignorant of the due process inherent in a nation founded on laws, the very same due process the ignorant will covet when due process is a thing of the past.

These laws and the emanating order offer unmatched freedom to our citizens, making us feel safe, allowing for prosperity, upward mobility for the diligent, and the chance to spread our goodness to other nations and to our own genuinely in need.

One of the toughest jobs in the world has to be that of a peace officer! Even good people lie their ass off and try to make excuses (I am guilty as most folks) for their law-breaking ways. Today’s officer has to wear the hat of a social worker, priest, mother, father, sibling, guidance counselor, mental health miracle worker, soldier, etc., all while being cussed, demeaned, spit on, and too often pummeled by street objects, with little or no authorative backing to bust some heads.

If folks assault a police officer, then I believe they need their head busted wide-the-hell open. I would not make a good cop; too many heads of punks would end up bouncing endlessly off the doorframe of my vehicle. That is why I am not a cop! I am too sensitive and I could not daily put up with the crap they do, all the while knowing it is currently hip to talk about killing cops!

Sure, there are highly publicized cases of law enforcement officers crossing the line in their daily policing duties, and the courts might not always administer justice as many believe it should, but checks and balances exist and they do not include burning down businesses, killing 53 innocent civilians and injuring more than 2,000 like what transpired in South Central Los Angeles over 20 years ago when folks were not happy with a jury verdict.

Do I always agree with how I am treated by every officer? No, but I am polite, state my case, accept the consequences if I am in the wrong (and I have been), and try to put myself in the officer’s shoes! If I don’t like the consequences or the verdict, then processes are in place for redress, and obviously there exist a wealth of social media outlets anxious to spread the word of law enforcement misdeeds or the perception thereof.

BUT, IT IS NEVER OKAY TO TAKE THE LAW INTO ONE’S OWN HANDS, and, if people engage in civil disobedience, then they need to accept the consequences of their behavior and beliefs. Ghandi did; Martin Luther King did; Jesus Christ did, and all three made a difference, and to my knowledge they didn’t whup anybody’s ass in the process or kill folks with whom they disagreed.

Jesus might have turned over the tables of the moneychangers in the temple (also known as HIS house), but He did not burn down the temple, encourage poor Jews to hate wealthier Jews, or sew social discord among brethren. He did not spend His short time walking this earth, His earth, complaining about the egregious treatment of the Jewish people at the hands of Herod or the Roman Empire, who controlled Palestine with an iron fist. No, He shared His message of Love, reconciliation, redemption, forgiveness, and yes, right behavior. But all this He addressed to those living under totalitarian reign; he was not concerned with state of the regime, only the hearts of those affected by it.

Our government and too many (not all) who depend on her largesse at the expense of the haves are shredding the social fabric that once held our great nation together. Oh, one can remonstrate about the myriad evidence of unfairness found in our country of well over 320 million folks; many will rant about guns and the need to confiscate them from law-abiding citizens while being too chicken shit to take them from gang members, outlaws, or to mete out appropriate justice to those who use weapons to harm others; but those same pie-in-the-sky folks seem to eschew deterrence as demeaning to the disenfranchised folks who feel like they are getting back at those who have kept them down by “getting what’s mines.” Bullshit! If it ain’ yours, then it ain’ yours.

When the Revolution comes, everybody loses, and what is lost will not be regained; the folks I fear who will fair the worst are members of populations seen as stirring up the most trouble. If we do not live with a thankful heart intent on doing our fellow man good and if we do not appreciate the freedom to live broadly in our casteless society, then we will perish with ungrateful hearts and wispy memories of what will in hindsight be deemed as having been most beneficent!

Law and order matters! It is the basis for a civilized society predicated on natural law and the need to protect those who cannot protect themselves from the packs of wolves running rampant in our major cities and every place where TV and social media reach.

There is too little understanding of what is required of a citizen in a just society—lack of understanding to many because they refuse to participate in work, family life, and cultural activities where people learn how to get along with others—iron sharpening iron.

Accepting constructive or unwarranted criticism is a byproduct of the workplace and marketplace, arenas where self-controlled self-advocacy is learned. Justice and mercy can work hand in hand in this nation of laws granting freedoms not mirrored any other place in the world. We must not try to rectify societal or individual ills by unjust and unlawful means. If we do, we destroy the very political system offering us unparalleled peace, prosperity, and recourse for wrongs. If one does not believe this, then immigration is a two-way street. We’ll miss ya! I don’t often say vaya con Dios, but when I do, I mean it!

In conclusion, I leave the reader with famed historian Will Durant’s rhetorical question; “The greatest question of our time is not communism versus individualism, not Europe versus America, not even East versus West; it is whether men can live without God.” Well, can you? pw