2 PARAGRAPHS 4 LIBERTY: #185 “LET’S FOCUS MORE ON COMMONALITIES!”

     So now there is yet another situation in which we are pushing ourselves further away from each other due to a Nike ad about a former NFL quarterback “risking everything” by taking a position against police brutality.  This most recent “pushing” comes from two different police officers’ associations in the City of Long Beach, California.  Each of those two groups is trying to make the situation come down to: “Are you in favor of the police?”  Or “Are you in favor of Liberty and the victims of some incidents involving the police?”  I hope I speak for the vast majority of people in our country when I say I am in favor of both.  So let’s stop shouting at each other, and focus more upon that commonality.

      For heaven’s sake!  Of course we need educated, trained, competent and brave police forces to protect and serve us.  These officers can quickly face an unknown and potentially dangerous situation in which either they or we can be severely injured or even killed.  And in that regard we also must understand that sometimes even serious mistakes will be made.  But we also must understand that if the police have a badge and a gun, and that we as members of the community are held to obey their orders, they simply must be well trained and must keep our laws and our best interests strongly in mind.  In other words, all of us have a right to believe that all police officers will always try to do the right thing for the right reason – every time!  And they should/must be held accountable on those (few) occasions in which they lose control and fall below that standard of care.

        So let’s please try to stop so much of this “me the good guy vs. you the bad guy” stuff.  We should all be on the same side of both of these issues!  So I chastise both associations for not saying so.  And, while we’re at it, maybe a manufacturer that intentionally creates more dissension in our communities for the purpose of selling more products should also be chastised for the same reason.

Judge Jim Gray (Ret.)

2012 Libertarian candidate for Vice President, along with

Governor Gary Johnson as the candidate for President

Our Quotation for the Week: “Expectation without Communication leads to Frustration.”

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