An Upcoming Police State

More and more local municipalities in the United States are seeing ex-police officers running for office. Most of these candidates in both their law enforcement and political careers promote a policy known as ‘zero tolerance,’ where minor infractions of the law are prosecuted to the furthest extent of the law. The thinking behind such a policy is that in order to prevent grave crimes from occurring like murder, forms of assault, illegal trafficking and grand theft, it is necessary to punish (to the furthest extent of the law) those who commit lesser crimes like breaking windows, graffiti, disturbing the peace, loitering, public drunkenness, or disloyal opposition (verbally disrespecting a police officer). The fines and time served for committing such small violations are increasing through new legislation and the general public, in general, is unaware and indifferent to the change. However, many voters believe or are told to believe that a clean street will nurture pure minds that uphold the law and report any deviant activity, keeping their neighborhoods safe from crime. 

The popularity of such a program rests well on the coattails and hysteria of September 11. More and more, Americans support candidates that are ‘tough on crime’ and are diverting public spending from institutions like public education, food assistance and health to security and law enforcement. Ask a recent graduate from a college or university who the three most active job recruiters are and he/she will say homeland security administrations, police departments and prisons. The financial crisis, however, struck a blow to this growth temporarily. States had no choice but to release some prisoners, often inmates that are in jail for marijuana possession or other minor offenses. But the US economy will eventually rebound, not necessarily to the prosperity known n the later half of the 20^th Century, but certainly to the point where it continues to be a major consumer of goods from China and other developing nations. When it does, what government exists at the local, state, and federal levels, will continue dismantling what social safety nets remain and increase spending on law enforcement.

The trend of diverting revenues to law enforcement instead of social programs is a reversal of the social safety nets set up in the 1960s and 1970s. These decades witnessed a counter-culture movement, a revolution that changed significantly how people thought about life, law and society. Though not all followed the movement, it was a time when people questioned the War in Vietnam, the intolerance and injustice of Jim Crow laws in southern states, gender roles, and in general how people treated others. It was a revolution that preached tolerance, acceptance of difference and began questioning the power structures in education, business, law, and politics. The counter-culture movement had its shortcomings and those who were a part of it, if asked today, will likely admit it never completed its objectives. Americans today, in fact, resemble the post-WW II generation that purchased many goods and feared the Soviets, only now the products come from overseas and the terrorism has replaced the Soviet threat.

There is a revolution coming in the United States. It is not based on ideas and thinking from the 1960s and 1970s, however. It is one of greater law enforcement and intolerance towards deviance and protest, eventually profiling and targeting all who are excluded from the wealth and power in this country. It is a state where the privileged are protected and the poor are punished, where the punishments grow more severe and are used in cases where people break the law under duress more and more. Those who can afford decent counsel are likely to walk away from their crimes while those who are represented by overworked, public defenders serve time and are slapped with hefty fines. The poor will be impoverished further and likely to commit more crimes with little opportunity and a growing hatred for authority. Law enforcement agencies commonly have the slogan ‘to protect and serve’ but this is not for the common good. Their services are for those who are part of the political and economic elite who live in gated communities or streets commonly patrolled by public and private police agencies. The rest, however, have the pleasure of living in fear of what activity will land them into a situation of being questioned by the police, detained, and possibly arrested in the emerging police state that is the United States.