Since the death of George Floyd, leftist political organizations are exploiting this to grow government and push divisions between us. They aren’t pushing real solutions, like restoring freedom and embracing healing in forgiveness.
It’s been a few short weeks since we were shocked by the tragic death of George Floyd. Since then, we’ve seen much of Minneapolis burned to the ground, and riots spreading even to cities in Texas.
Organizers of the protests—some of which briefly turned into riots—in Dallas submitted a list of demands. Instead of a list of action items to bring more transparency, accountability, and checks on the government department we call the police, these organizations demanded growing government spending and power.
I’m still shocked at their demand for the government to track who someone talks to and where they go, also known as contact tracing.
These organizations—and their political allies—seem to have gone silent on one demand that might do some good: purging officers with histories of untruthfulness.
We’re also seeing judgments pressed on people for things they’ve never done, as they’re held responsible for actions taken by others who share their skin color or profession.
This isn’t going to solve what happened to Floyd or prevent a similar tragedy from happening. All it will do is divide us against each other as government becomes more powerful.
This societal division also helps certain political organizations fundraise and gain influence.
Instead of letting these organizations exploit our hurts, anger, and fears, let’s just deal with the issues and come together. We need to shrink government when it becomes oppressive and expand freedom as we’re able. My colleague Cary Cheshire put forward several reforms to promote public order and citizens’ rights. His recommendations, which include eliminating no-knock raids, would do much toward that end.
So would more accountability of government, such as regularly checking how many police officers in any given department have such terrible credibility that district attorneys won’t call them to testify in court. This is called having a Brady or Giglio list, and it’s questionable whether officers with such a list should even be serving.
At a cultural level, we need to stop holding on to offenses and forgive. It does no good to hold hate in your heart toward someone who wronged your ancestor or your brother. Doing that eventually turns you into the very monsters you claim to hate. Don’t give wrongdoers such satisfaction.
Government is rarely the solution, and giving it more power puts all at risk. Breeding hatred won’t fix anything, either. It’ll only torture your own soul, as well as others.
