Democrats call themselves the party of facts and evidence, yet they’ve been quite busy ignoring data that isn’t convenient for them. Throughout the country, the movement to defund the police – though nobody on the left can agree on what that means – has begun. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio made known his approval of a $1 billion cut to the police budget. He commented that “young people need to be nurtured, not policed” despite the homicide rate in the city soaring 21% in the last six months. In addition to this “evidence-based” policy, Mayor de Blasio claimed that the need to balance the city budget was of utmost importance.
As pointed out by Liberty Nation’s Sarah Cowgill, this has been nothing but a farce considering there has never been such a sudden desire to balance the budget in big-spending Democrat cities. Besides, the fact remains that the money no longer going to the police will just be distributed elsewhere, and not back to taxpayers or a rainy day fund. All in all, New York City will prove to be a nothing burger in regards to defunding the police. Still, de Blasio will undoubtedly score some political points with progressive activists who don’t know any better and will continue to hurrah this phony accomplishment.
Republicans Buckle
Unfortunately, some Republicans have also begun to fall in line with the Democrats’ effort to weaken law enforcement throughout the country. Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) recently proposed a weakening of qualified immunity granted to police officers, citing grievances that need to be addressed, according to the Black Lives Matter movement. In a show of utter cowardice, Sen. Braun stressed the apparent need to appease Senate Democrats’ grievances, noting that: “Chuck Schumer already decided he’s going to make hay of this in the election and we’ll end up on the short side of it again.” Mike Braun’s future reelection and popularity with Indiana Democrats take priority over the safety of Americans and law enforcement throughout the country, it would seem.
Despite the circus going on around us, Americans’ lives and well-being in Democrat-controlled cities are no joke. The crime statistics in various cities heeding calls to defund the police are chilling. According to multiple data, assaults with dangerous weapons were up in Washington, D.C. Shootings rose 24% in Philadelphia and 86% in New York. Firearm assaults rose 31% in Durham, North Carolina. Assaults and homicides increased in Dallas despite crime dropping overall, and in Los Angeles, violent crime increased along with the number of shooting victims. All of these cities are bowing to calls to cut their police budgets or abolish entire police departments. Of course, politicians in these local governments seem blissfully unaware of the irony in requesting private security from nonexistent threats as they vote to abolish and defund their police departments.
In this time of considerable uncertainty, the media continue to amplify the voices of the radical left. The only difference being that this time, Republican leaders are in a state of submission, with many being unwilling to put up a fight for the convictions that supposedly define their party. Those fed up with the establishment have found a significant number of Republicans no longer willing to fight for their beliefs, more intent on surviving the wrath of mob rule, and winning their reelection campaigns in 2020. Unfortunately, all we can hope for is that Democratic governance reaps what it sows in their attacks on law enforcement and that Republicans in purple states figure out that abandoning the platform to appeal to progressives will accomplish nothing for their political legacy.
