Coyote Blog

A good many of my conservative friends are in shock at the reaction to the killing of George Floyd.   "We saw the video.  We agree its awful.  No one we know is defending this."

Yes, that is likely true.  The video was pretty damning.  But you see, these things seldom happen on video.  And when they don't, Conservatives are generally in a "believe all cops" mode that is just as ignorant of due process and nuance as the me-too brigades were with Julie Swetnick's crazy accusations about Judge Kavanaugh.

I understand that a great many police officers are good, even laudable people.  But not all are.  And because there are bad apples, we need careful accountability systems for police particularly because we give them powers and responsibilities that go beyond those of ordinary citizens.

The problem with this accountability is that Conservatives tend to go past respecting and supporting police, to fetishizing them.  I get it -- police are really at the core of beliefs for many Conservatives, whose views turn around the fight between civilization and barbarism.  It's hard not to think of this with barbarism in the streets over the last 24 hours.   No matter how much we respect them and need them to be there, we still also have to impose accountability on them.  You Conservatives frequently stand athwart of this accountability (you Progressives too, but I will get to that in the next post).