If there was a subtext to the Ferguson riots of 2014, it had less to do with racism and more to do with the shocking amount of military-style equipment that showed up to quell (or, in one case, completely fail to quell) civil unrest. Even some critics who were not inclined to take the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” propaganda seriously thought it was worrisome to see the power of the state on full display. Of course, liberals missed the most obvious point: Do you really want to disarm the populace when the police are outfitted with this kind of machinery?
Well, they seem to want to disarm both, but their efforts are backfiring in a big way. According to a new report from Sandler Research, law enforcement agencies across the country are investing more heavily in riot gear and other forms of crowd control than ever. Surveillance drones, water canons, and other military-style weapons are in high demand, expected to “generate revenues of over USD 3.5 billion by the end of 2020.”
Is that not the most hilarious case of “unintended consequences” you’ve ever seen? All of these liberals, crying about brutality, force, and overcriminalization, and they’ve had the exact opposite effect. All of these demonstrations that turn violent have told police agencies one thing and one things only: We’d better be prepared for the day that kind of violence erupts in our streets.
Who coulda seen that coming?
It’s not just police that have their guard up. Donald Trump’s extraordinary rise to the front of the Republican primaries can perhaps also be traced back to what happened in Ferguson and Baltimore. Americans were largely stunned by the way protesters trashed their cities over a grand jury decision that appeared – to any thinking person – to be entirely justified. If a certain segment of the black community is this close to the edge that they can be pushed over the top by an obviously-fictitious narrative, we have no time to waste in fixing this country.
Liberals, under Barack Obama, have made it nearly-impossible for inner city blacks to succeed in many parts of the country. And instead of abandoning the welfare state policies that caused this disaster, they are blaming white racism for the ills of America. Instead of cracking down on crime, they’re cracking down on the cops. There’s no end to it, and Republicans don’t even want to acknowledge what’s going on for fear that they’ll be tarred as racists.
They may not see what’s waiting for us in the coming months and years, but the police do.
