Anarchy in America

The protests over the death of George Floyd are continuing for a third week and by now most of the looters and rioters have moved on to their next shiny object. Only protesters and anarchists remain. The protesters are doing what Americans know how to do; express frustration with government by peacefully demonstrating. They want police violence against black people brought under control. The anarchists are also acting out their role, tearing down statues of famous people.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize the irrational nature of anarchist behavior. It started with the removal of Confederate statues, as a statement against the continuing repression of black people. It then moved on to statues of individuals who were not members of the Confederacy. Any one who had a link to slavery was now included; even George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were pulled down. Actually, the anarchist’s efforts are only partially irrational because there is also a strategy at work; the purposeful intent to destroy our political system.

Anarchism is a branch of the collectivist model of government, which was introduced by Rousseau in the late 1700s. Collectivists believe that political systems should be built around society as a whole and not individuals, which makes them strongly opposed to democracy. Anarchists believe that human society can exist without government. In their model, everyone would participate on a voluntary basis, without rules. Since this model can’t work in practice, anarchists spend their time engaged in revolutionary activities that accomplish nothing.

There are two problems with the anarchist activities happening now. First, they go beyond the intentions of the protestors, who want the government to address a serious issue and are expressing their feelings about that issue. The work of the anarchists is peripheral to those protests, being no more than the expression of mob behavior designed to remove symbols of democracy.

To improve the lives of black people, the country has to come together and take action as a whole. It takes, intellectuals, politicians, and citizens to unite for the common cause of equal and fair treatment by police. This issue extends to white people as well, demonstrating that the problems with police go beyond race. So far, in 2020, there have been 88 black men killed by police and 172 white men killed by police.

People must pressure the government to enact laws that will address the problem because a solution can’t be achieved through anarchy.

The second problem with anarchist efforts is the refocus of media attention onto themselves and the government’s response to them, away from the problems that caused the protests in the first place. Conservatives and others who believe in the rule of law, build their own anger narrative against the anarchy, wasting energy that should have been directed at fixing the original problem.

Do we really want to end this period of legitimate protest with torn down statues and nothing else to show for it?

There is also another issue: the lessons of history. A solid argument can be made for the value of understanding history, both bad and good. Immoral behaviors in history remind us of where we don’t want to be; they recall the behaviors we rejected in the past to make the world a better place. The list is long: slavery, exploitation of women and children, discrimination based on sexual preference, and more. Recognizing that those conditions existed, and were corrected, is the accomplishment, not the immoral behaviors themselves. Discard history and we discard knowledge of our sins.

The “cancel culture” thought process uses false logic; believing that behaviors that are now abhorrent must be used as clubs against those who participated in those behaviors in the past. George Washington had slaves so let’s cancel George Washington. This logic can be negated by examining its end point, which is an absurdity. As an example, we go back 150,000 years to the early human tribes in Africa. There are two tribes living in close proximity. One tribe kills the other in order to steal their food. By the cancel culture logic, we must cancel the killer tribe because they didn’t adhere to the current morality of the United States. Every society between then and now must be cancelled because, at some point, every society has exhibited immoral behaviors as judged by 21^st Century morality.

Morality and laws change as society decides they must, in order to respect the lives of human beings. Without the knowledge of what was bad, we can’t turn that knowledge into something good.

Bias Reporting on COVID and the Vaccine Paradox

One of many discussion topics about COVID is the apparent rise in new cases across several states. The data is accurate, but the reporting is biased. Another case of fake news.

Since the media represents the liberal establishment, they would like to make the situation look worse than it is, so they can criticize early red state openings. If they can make that narrative stick, it could hurt the Republicans in the fall elections.

Here are the current charts for Florida and Georgia. Florida cases are rising; Georgia cases are level to decreasing slowly. Deaths are dramatically lower in both states.

The obvious bias lies in what is not reported rather than what is reported. From the very beginning, the CDC has warned us that as testing becomes universally available, the number of cases will go up. That fact is obvious because if you test more people, you’ll find more cases of the disease. Asymptomatic cases won’t be identified unless widescale testing is done.

The second bias is not describing the new case characteristics. What is the age of these new patients? Old or young? Who cares if the new cases are asymptomatic people? Yes, those people now have to be careful they don’t infect others, but they certainly don’t represent a scary new trend. Our medical profession has done a good job of identifying the high-risk population. As long as those people are protected, the disease will come under our control.

As the data stands right now, if you are under 65, the risk of dying from COVID is about equal to that of being killed in a car accident on the way to work. Not a big deal.

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The COVID vaccine discussion is also interesting. As we all know, there has been a universal desire across our country to get a vaccine for COVID as quickly as possible. Some governors have made public statements that their states will not be open until the vaccine is readily available.

Lo and behold a new poll comes out, which shows that Americans are indifferent to receiving a new vaccine. Only 49% said they planned to get the shot. A large majority of older people plan to get the vaccine; younger people less so. Looking inside the numbers shows that 62% of Democrats will get the shot, but only 43% of Republicans will. A profile of those interested in a vaccination is a pretty close match to the same polls about the Flu. In others words, people have decided COVID is no worse than the Flu.

This public indifference throws a wrench into the control narrative of the Left about how the disease needs to play out. Ultimately, we have to have herd spread to control the disease, so getting there faster may not be a bad thing.

Twin Cities – Twin Problems

Problem 1

The death of George Floyd on May 25^th brought to the surface, once again, the problem of police brutality in America. It was a case of murder on TV -- so egregious no one could ignore it.

The reaction in Minneapolis and across the nation was swift and widespread. Protests were organized in all the major cities and launched the same day. “Why does this keep happening, asked the American people? Why can’t it be stopped?”

It’s obvious at this point that police training has failed and penalties for misconduct are inconsequential. It’s time to fix these problems because there is no excuse for not doing so. Criminal behavior appears to infect only a small minority of the police force, perhaps 5-10%, so the problem is easier to fix than if it were more widespread.

There are three parts to the fix: better psychological evaluation of recruits, better training, and more severe penalties for misbehavior. Police recruits already take a psychological profile test. It would be interesting to know how the test results are evaluated, but no one has access to that information. It would also be interesting to know how officers accused of misbehavior performed on the test. Were the indications of a future problem? That would help determine whether the tests have any value. Second, police training should include a strongly presented demonstration of prohibited behavior, such as choking and overuse of force on a victim. Recruits should sign a document that they will not engage in prohibited tactics. Penalties of misbehavior should include suspension and expulsion based on repeated offences.

The House of Representatives will be introducing a bill this week to address some of these issues. One part of the bill changes the standard for misbehavior from “willfully” violating a person’s rights to “knowingly or with reckless disregard” violating a person’s rights. The current provision places the burden of proof on the prosecution to show intent, which is a tough standard.

There is also talk of defunding police forces in different cities including Minneapolis. As crazy as this seems, I support the concept being on the table as a tool to force action. It is my firm belief that all human institutions become corrupt over time and cannot be reformed without radical change. Other examples of this corruption include universities and public-school systems. Usually, there are powerful lobbies that prevent reform. Those lobbies have to be overcome through public pressure.

Problem 2

The riots. An unfortunate result of the Floyd protests was the subsequent riots and looting that devastated parts of Minneapolis, including Black businesses. The perpetrators of this criminal activity robbed legitimate protestors of the spotlight, blunting the strength of their message. The rioters pursued their own ends without regard for whom they were impacting. The destruction of Black businesses pushes the affected neighborhoods deeper into a economic hole and postpones their opportunity to make progress.

Who were these perpetrators? Most likely multiple actors, including anarchists, criminals, and opportunists. The anarchists are bent on tearing down the institutions of America, hoping to cause a revolution against the American government and way of life. Anarchists have been with us, as organized groups, since at least the early 1800s. They reject all forms of hierarchy and wish the destroy the state, thinking the result will be freedom for the people. President William McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist.

The criminals were seeking profit, taking property for resale. Public anger provided the spark for them to come out of the woodwork and commit their crimes. The third group, the opportunists, are always present. They do not usually lead the way in riotous situations, but show up to join in on the spoils.

The riots and destruction hurt the protestor’s cause in a second way. They create anger among those who strongly believe in law and order, so it becomes easy to blame the protestors for the destruction even if they weren’t involved. In situations like this, the messaging coming out of law and order types should be carefully focused on the perpetrators rather than the protestors. Having said that, many municipalities have done a poor job of responding to the riots and looting. Public safety has to start with law and order or there is anarchy. Polls taken since the Floyd’s death show that a high percentage of Americas want cities to do a better job of keeping law and order.

It’s a strange twist that it’s the police department that has that job.