Shiny Badges Don't Grant Special Rights

Well. I'm feeling good enough to get back on teh interwebz, and of course I immediately find myself faced with the usual idiocy of authoritarians and the boot-lickers who apologize for them. Ugh. Here's a screenshot of one such post:

Of course, this kind of egregious advocacy for tyranny cannot go un-challenged, but so many out there just parrot the same thoughtless talking points in response to anything that shakes their worldview. I used to worship the government and the police too, so I doubtless parroted the same vacuous nothingness myself until I seriously examined my beliefs. Thus, I try to keep somewhat civil, because calling a copsucker by that label isn't going to make any progress toward liberty. Reminding people that the slave patrol was enforcing the laws being broken by the illegal Underground Railroad in the antebellum era makes people uncomfortable. Mentioning the Nazi SS just results in claims that Godwin's Law somehow negates the argument presented. Instead, let's examine some common beliefs with a lens of liberty and an attempt at civil discourse.

• Police need to be respected because they have authority granted by law!

What is the source of this alleged authority? Granted by whom? Appeal to legality is a non-argument. The first principle of a free society is that no one has special privileges or authority over others. Burden of proof is yours to show otherwise.

• Sure, there are some bad apples, but cops who commit crimes get punished! Justice prevails!

The whole proverb says, "A few bad apples spoil the bunch." Police do not police themselves. By and large, police are not punished for crimes they commit, even in the most blatant cases of brutality or egregious error. The worst usual result is a stint of desk duty followed by perhaps getting shuffled to a new department. If the victims do actually get a judgement in their favor by some miracle, the taxpayer foots the bill. That isn't justice.

• You shouldn't get in the way of cops, they're just doing their jobs. They have special training and they're here to protect us! Besides, just obey the law and you'll be fine.

The job of a cop is to enforce arbitrary government policy. It's what they're trained to do first and foremost. Any real criminal investigation is tangential to their primary job. The US has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and face it, owning the wrong bit of plant or selling a "prohibited" drug is not fundamentally a crime by any rational measure. I know this idea is strange to most, but give it some serious thought, please. (And no, I do not partake in drugs, so don't bother with that pathetic non-responsive accusation)

• If you don't like the cops, how do you expect to keep us safe?

...Every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.”
― Frédéric Bastiat, "The Law"

But even beyond that, we have real-world examples of practical alternatives. Private security is a thing. Detroit Threat Management offers a model for privately-funded honest and peaceful neighborhood security today. It's not a magical fantasy. It exists already, and people already use it because it works. On the other hand, do you think that the waste and abuse inherent in any monopoly disappears when you wave a flag over it?

• Cops just want to go home to their families, and they have a dangerous job!

It's pretty damned dangerous to be confronted by a cop, too, and their job wouldn't be nearly so dangerous if they respected the rights of others instead of using legality to justify trespass against innocent people. A fundamental principle of law is that of there is no victim, there is no crime. If there is no crime, any punitive action is itself criminal. Remember, shiny badges don't grant special rights.

I could perhaps somewhat respect an Andy Griffith who tries to actually serve the people and keep the peace, but too many cops are more like Barney Fife with less comic relief. CSI and the rest of the alphabet soup cop procedural dramas distort our perception of police. Unfortunately, most won't understand this until they're on the wrong end of a cop out to fill his (unofficial and much-denied) ticket quota, find their doors bashed in by a SWAT team who got the wrong address for a drug bust, or otherwise see the true nature of police when it's too late.

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What other thoughtless responses have you seen when you dare to challenge the political status quo or question the legitimacy of government goons? Comment below! Do you think I'm missing the point and there is a legitimate justification for government monopoly police enforcing the edicts of the legislature? Let's get a serious discussion rolling in the comments!