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Ron Paul On Ferguson: The War Comes Home
Submitted by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute,
America’s attention recently turned away from the violence in Iraq and Gaza toward the violence in Ferguson, Missouri, following the shooting of Michael Brown. While all the facts surrounding the shooting have yet to come to light, the shock of seeing police using tear gas (a substance banned in warfare), and other military-style weapons against American citizens including journalists exercising their First Amendment rights, has started a much-needed debate on police militarization.
The increasing use of military equipment by local police is a symptom of growing authoritarianism, not the cause. The cause is policies that encourage police to see Americans as enemies to subjugate, rather than as citizens to "protect and serve.” This attitude is on display not only in Ferguson, but in the police lockdown following the Boston Marathon bombing and in the Americans killed and injured in “no-knock” raids conducted by militarized SWAT teams.
One particularly tragic victim of police militarization and the war on drugs is “baby Bounkham.” This infant was severely burned and put in a coma by a flash-burn grenade thrown into his crib by a SWAT team member who burst into the infant’s room looking for methamphetamine.
As shocking as the case of baby Bounkham is, no one should be surprised that empowering police to stop consensual (though perhaps harmful and immoral) activities has led to a growth of authoritarian attitudes and behaviors among government officials and politicians. Those wondering why the local police increasingly look and act like an occupying military force should consider that the drug war was the justification for the Defense Department’s “1033 program,” which last year gave local police departments almost $450 million worth of “surplus” military equipment. This included armored vehicles and grenades like those that were used to maim baby Bounkham.
Today, the war on drugs has been eclipsed by the war on terror as an all-purpose excuse for expanding the police state. We are all familiar with how the federal government increased police power after September 11 via the PATRIOT Act, TSA, and other Homeland Security programs. Not as widely known is how the war on terror has been used to justify the increased militarization of local police departments to the detriment of our liberty. Since 2002, the Department of Homeland Security has provided over $35 billion in grants to local governments for the purchase of tactical gear, military-style armor, and mine-resistant vehicles.
The threat of terrorism is used to justify these grants. However, the small towns that receive tanks and other military weapons do not just put them into storage until a real terrorist threat emerges. Instead, the military equipment is used for routine law enforcement.
Politicians love this program because it allows them to brag to their local media about how they are keeping their constituents safe. Of course, the military-industrial complex’s new kid brother, the law enforcement-industrial complex, wields tremendous influence on Capitol Hill. Even many so-called progressives support police militarization to curry favor with police unions.
Reversing the dangerous trend of the militarization of local police can start with ending all federal involvement in local law enforcement. Fortunately, all that requires is for Congress to begin following the Constitution, which forbids the federal government from controlling or funding local law enforcement. There is also no justification for federal drug laws or for using the threat of terrorism as an excuse to treat all people as potential criminals. However, Congress will not restore constitutional government on its own; the American people must demand that Congress stop facilitating the growth of an authoritarian police state that threatens their liberty.
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lets see if voters forget about this.
district 11 was tough...but nothing some military can't handle.
There are three kinds of people in a cops world; other cops, their family, and criminals, end of story.
Local, state and federal arbitrary law enforcement heads are conditioned to hire ass kissers willing to do whatever they are told regradless of constitutional rights. The only rights you have are the ones you are willing to claim and in doing so you will be labeled a "home grown terrorist"
Its sad that one day i have to take the stand against someone who's brain has been poisoned...
"I've been in this business a long time and believe me there is essentially no difference from one administration to another no matter what the platforms.... The foreign policy stays the same, the monetary policy stays the same, there’s no proposal for any real cuts and both parties support it." - Ron Paul
I hope the history books represent Dr. Paul well... I suppose that would mean the "club" was exposed AND people cared enough to do something about it.
Give excessive power to anyone and stand back and watch tyranny in action. They did not take power it was given, in some cases thrust upon them. All we see are symptoms with few actually seeing the fingerprints of the true perpetrators. Those seeking to burn this baby to the ground. Civil WAR. The last one will look like a warmup exercise compared to the level of well armed "factions" official and otherwise.
...MOAR debt, laws, entitlements, and war.
It will simply never happen.
We're fucked.
The American people are going to reap what we have sown.
Consequences.
It will simply never happen.
We're fucked.
That.... is where the good Dr. loses me. He has a faith in Congress that I just do not have.
It would take a miracle.
Like a currency collapse.
Truer words were never spoken, Miracle (Mad) Max.
Because it is all we have, short of a complete social breakdown and civil war. Pray for congress ....and buy ammo.
Not in Congress, in people. If the people deserve their rights they will stand up for them and make Congress obey. If not, they won't.
"The American people must demand that Congress.."
"It will simply never happen.
We're fucked."
Good for you, HH.
You neglected the message,
and presented yourself as a self-righteous quitter too, all in one breath.
It is, indeed, hard for me to see my countrymen turning this ship around before we hit the rocks. If that makes me a self-righteous quitter in your judgement, then so be it.
I believe that allowing others, and ourselves, to experience negative consequences is usually good and valuable medicine.
Can I not love this nation and my neighbors, yet hold polite disdain for the current cock-sucking fascist government?
Can I not love this nation and my neighbors, yet hold polite disdain for the current cock-sucking fascist government?
Yes.
The government is like cigarettes. Hard to quit.
Only so long as those loving neighbors do not continue to elect and support people who seek to oppress you or otherwise assist in the cock-sucking.
Well, they can't say: "they hate us for our freedom" anymore.
Former East German Stassi types probably feel for us.
They hate us for our EBT?
The primary symptom of an authoritarian state is a morally devolving population. With the growth and increasing influence of the Ebonic Plague, America has become a culturally coarser, more violent, less moral, nation.
It requires a more repressive, authoritarian, policing to maintain order.
John Adams admonished us over 200 years ago: "The Constitution we have adopted is only strong enough to govern a moral and religious people."
It is a certainty that we can no longer consider ourselves to ba a "moral and religious People". Most of the disintegration has been foisted upon us by the amoral Elites that have infested our educational and entertainment instutions, with the assistance of a greedy, self-serving, morally inept judicial and political class controlled by fraudulent Babylonian banksters.
Capital has no conscience and no fatherland.
RP is the man.
Ron Paul 2016
constitutional party
"Pair charged in UNC professor's death recently released from jail"
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — One of the men accused of beating a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor to death on a street near campus was wearing an electric monitor on his ankle at the time of the crime, authorities said Friday.
Read more at http://www.wral.com/unc-professor-dies-after-chapel-hill-mugging/1384054...
Two "gentle giants" who have a "long criminal history" at the ripe old ages of 23 and 27.
I'm sure they were only expressing their futility with the overt racism that inhibits their social advancement.
ITS NOT THIER FAULT
whats so hard to understand?
Got a blunt?
blood is the answer. ? is , who's?
Totalitarian Authoritarian Fascist Militatized Police State Regime.
What idiot constituent would feel safe knowing the police,who are essentially glorified mall cops, have military equipment! I certainly will never feel safe unless I am allowed to have an anti-tank rifle.
Miffed;-)
And the majority of the Fuzz (remember that kind term?) feel they are like 007, James Bond;
Licensed to Kill, and Fuck the Constitution, do as you are ordered and see fit.
If you feel threatened, or fear for your life, just draw your weapon and fire at will.
Will won't like this at all, however, and just may turn on you.
What idiot thinks they are safe anywhere?
If you do find yourself feeling safe then our government has failed you terribly as their primary function is to spread fear to all people at all times in regard to every possible perceived risk.period.
Fear the cops
fear the blacks
fear the mexicans
fear the industrialists
fear the ecologists
fear the Muslims
fear the joos
fear the pope
fear the weather
fear the lack of weather
the only thing we have to fear is a government who spreads fear to divide people and coalesce power
you forgot Ebola
And global whatever it is!
I fear wood that is old.
So I gots me some axes.
Dey be very useful when I have questions but only one per.
They are not "glorified mall cops"
they are debased mall cops.
How often do mall cops murder people?
When they do, do they get away with it?
Jesus Christ on a cracker that man states it about as simply and truthful as ever. Serfs, not citizens to be lorded over instead of protecting.
Politicians can only brag to their local media about how they are keeping their constituents safe, because a bigger part of the constituents believe that lie.
Just sayin'.
Just curious, malek,
What the Fuck does it mean when you end a perfectly good comment with "Just Sayin'?
Are you solidifing your cred within some obscure fraternity of Webbies ???
Or just another rectocranial inversion. I think the latter.
There are a few euphemisms familiar to Fight Club, and 'Just Sayin(g)' is one of them.
If'n you don't like it, you're entitled to one free Transrectal Cardiectomy per Bastiat.
Just Sayin'.
Retire and enjoy the remainder of your years in peace Ron. The Fiat Lady already won this round......
"Congress will not restore constitutional government on its own; the American people must demand that Congress stop facilitating the growth of an authoritarian police state that threatens their liberty."
Nice words Congressman
But just think what might have happened to this Country if their had been a meaningful debate in the House to go to war in the first place and how the outcome would have changed the world if more legislators as selfless as Paul Wellstone had said "we're not going to war until we find out who did this" -first?!!!
After all this is 13 years too late!
And Wellstone was dead not too long after ... aviation accident in unforgiving winter weather.
Chances are lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut that Congressman Paul can get on the ballot with party $$$$ backing and pull a reverse Bernays to obtain enough votes to turn this country around from the present course - which appears to be just upstream of a waterfall.
Have to crash first, over the falls, and then build a system of Constitutional money - out with the old and in with the new. Perhaps it won't take more than another year or so.
On the other hand, money has momentum, and once the next move gets started, it could avalanche into a classic fall panic, as in October of 1907. The Banker's Panic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907
Ron Paul is an Idiot.
Ferguson has nothing to do with the war...
Its all about Racism imbeded in American Society -- especially in the South, like Missouri.
And Ron Paul -- that crazy uncle from red neck dirt hill Texas -- is an expert at that.
His dummy son Randy had a chief of staff who was a KKK member.
One can only imagine the Paul dinner table comments about Blacks.
Missouri isn't the south sugar :P
from arizona to georgia you all bunch all fucking nazies.
what difference if missouri with niggers is full middle of the state... has he stated, rascism issue, full center of country, face your behaviors, you hate tacos & niggers, so what's the fucking problem, nuke em. period.
If that bag on your head was folded a little differently, someone might mistake you for being a member of the "invisible empire".
Yes, "racism embedded in American Society".
What ARE we going to do about all of these black racists anyway?
stop electing niggers to white house is a good starting point i guess....
I think you forgot to press the CapsLock key.
Perhaps RP is NOT an idiot.
Have you considered that the problem is BOTH racism (dictated from high, and continually fostered) AND war?
As Oldwood pointed out, fear keeps people from coming together to face the real problems.
We aren't going to vote for you, Hillary, no matter how you malign the good Doctors Paul. Perhaps they do revile black folks but they believe in Constitutional rule of law. That is unlike yourself who apparently has complete disdain for everyone and absolutely no regard for the Constitution or fair treatment of all under the law.
"In a highly developed society, the Establishment cannot survive without the obedience and loyalty of millions of people who are given small rewards to keep the system going: the soldiers and police, teachers and ministers, administrators and social workers, technicians and production workers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, transport and communications workers, garbage men and firemen. These people-the employed, the somewhat privileged-are drawn into alliance with the elite. They become the guards of the system, buffers between the upper and lower classes. If they stop obeying, the system falls."
— A people’s history of the United States: 1492-present by Howard Zinn
If enough, say 5% of these key people, the ones who man the levers of commerce and keep the lights on - if only a small percentage of key support people fail to report to work for a single reason, the System grinds to a halt (think airborn illness or naturnal disaster or a long-term transportation outage).
It doesn't take a lot of people, just a few technicians who CAN get pissed off enough to throw a wrench into the gears or a virus into the network.
http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/ferguson-backlash-rallies-coast-to-coast-for-...
From the linked article:
Gheen said his organization is concerned that many police are militarizing and taking on the “warrior cop” mentality, but he believes it’s important to support the majority who still work within the bounds of the Constitution.Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/ferguson-backlash-rallies-coast-to-coast-for-... “The largest police force in this country is still the county sheriffs. And the militarization of the police is … a set up to turn people against the police.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/ferguson-backlash-rallies-coast-to-coast-for-...
There was a Fort named Fort Sheridan located North of Chicago, it had a road leading from it to Chicago, the purpose of the Fort snd the Road was to allow the rapid movement of troops from Fort Sheridan along Sheridan Road straight to Chicago to deal with labor unrest in the stock yards and factories because the local police force with their night sticks and pistol s could not cut it.
Well they don't have that probelm anymore. the only riots will be from reductions in benefits.
Yup. Evanstan, Highland Park. Been on that road many times years ago. History is a bitch.
I remember after Fort Sheridan was BRAC'd; it was basically a blight on the area.
Now most of it has been re-developed up the wazoo, especially the portion near Lake Forest $$$.
He's is right. In San Fran the cops busted into a hotel to make drug busts, with no probable cause and no warrants.
Ron is a strict Constitutionalist and he gets it right that the war on drugs was used so that cops could do just that.
Now its taking another turn, DHS making lists of potential terrorists that is just outrageous.
Ron has always been right, he is right to the point on all of it.
The NWO is just like the 3rd reich, only with global zionist socialism instead of national zionist socialism. Its completely raysiss, entirely deceptive and will probably last about as long, with the same disastrous outcome. The fish rots from the head down.
Ron Paul: best President US never had
Posse Comitatus? We don't need no stinkin' Posse Comitatus. Vamanos!
What is the vilest scum on the planet? Washington D.C. vermin scum--the enemy of 7 billion people.
And they just reply back, "Or else what?"
anarchy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWrmEQJ5q0U The next 911 - a Nuke in a drought struck city run by friends of Larry ORicher Than Ever Stein. When natives are not happy, no one is.
I cheer to this policy.
It is good fro the people, living outside America.
Americans have to get and keep their evil. They can enjoy, what their government, armies and spy agencies are doing in the whole world.
In any mental institution you have patients and guards.
The moment you give guards and patients guns, the guards will become patients.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28934213
Next time you see Russian soldiers or paratroopers on US territory, please keep in mind that they are there by mistake.
Americans have come to view Snowden as more of a whistle-blower rather then as a traitor as the White House tried to paint him. Interestingly a gender gap emerges on how people see the government’s anti-terrorism programs with men being more inclined to think the government has gone to far, it also seems that younger voters, those in their twenties are appalled by the intrusions into our privacy.
Will terrorists kill innocent civilians in the years to come? Of course. They did so more than 100 years ago, when they were called anarchists—and a responsible nation-state must take reasonable measures to protect its citizens. But there is no way to completely eliminate terrorism.The challenge that confronts us is how we will live with that threat. We have created an economy of fear, an industry of fear, a national psychology of fear. Al Qaeda could never have achieved that on its own. We have inflicted it on ourselves. More on this subject in the article below.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/09/a-terrorist-under-every-bed.html
excessive government comes with consequences..Large Nation states or the ultimate dream of CFR and NWO elites a massive world government..nukes and modern bioweapons can be controlled by massive central governments or so the thinking goes...but of course so will your freedoms be controlled, ergo massive police and security goes hand in hand with NWO, or, you do not have the goal of keeping us safe from a small nation state acting with modern weapons of mass destruction..so see the reptiles have good deeds at heart. just ask them.
Ron, any comment on Tea Party rockstars like Marco Rubio calling Snowden is a "traitor"?
Any comment on the majority of Tea Party members who voted in 2009 in favor of Obama's Iraq funding package?
The Police of the many juridictions in the US will continue to
Serve and Protect
the State, not the citizens .
Their paymasters who own the State & the IRS loot laundry.
Should have let those blacks destroy there community. I get so tired of having to turn off J.Jackson and that black leprechaun on stilts.
What about Lt. Chris Dorner, you blowhard? That was it, a televised police execution & double frame of a cop who was trying to out the corruption of the most corrupt police department I've ever seen, including racist hate crimes up to murder, mob money, cops assaulting civilians including rape and discrimination by every ethnic group in that PD. What has the government mafia done about this gift wrapped clusterfuck? What have you done about it? You all buried it, thats what.
Ferguson is a nothing issue and you know it. Its safe for your kind to politicize. Why is it you don't point out all the agitators were bused in, most from out of state?
Your opinion is weak.