Freedom Full Circle Loses Some Luster

People protest at the State Capitol during a rally in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, May 20, 2020. Barbers and hair stylists are protesting the state’s stay-at-home orders, a defiant demonstration that reflects how salons have become a symbol for small businesses that are eager to reopen two months after the COVID-19 pandemic began. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

On January 6, we experienced what happens when freedom becomes too free. How is that even possible though, that such a benevolent value, and one embodying the civil philosophy of an entire nation, could produce actions so reprehensible?  To answer that, you have to go back to 2020, a time of fun, in spite of the consequence.

More than the practice of massive populations burning meat and invading coastal regions for a 24hr period, Old Glory stands as the empirical symbol of each American man or woman’s personal manifest destiny. Fun is the byproduct of the flag and what it represents; freedom.  And nothing bore a greater witness to that singular liberty than Americans celebrating July 4^th of 2020 in the middle of a global pandemic that required disciplined social distancing and protective mask wearing.

It was a shift in the use of freedom and one marked by a laser focus on individual goals and desires.  Americans were bold in their assessment of what they wanted, and damn the country and what it needed as a whole. 

As such, cooperation became a casualty of this swing from the benign nature of freedom.  Other faces of the virtue have also died recently.  Truth had been an early loss. Very early.

Solutions from the Commonwealth

Any substantive change must come from us, not them.  How to get there is the question.  And there are lots of conversations and discussions taking place on that regard.  This is one view from the commonwealth…

 

POLICE REFORM

The murder of George Floyd and the onset of the Corona-virus afford a unique opportunity for the Black Lives Matter movement to achieve its goal of police reform. The casual heartlessness of the murder of George Floyd galvanized the attention of the world by its blatant disregard of Floyd as a human being. That act coupled with the onslaught of the Corona-virus presents a unique opportunity to force police reform that may never come again. His death demonstrated how the black community is policed and what black people endure at the hands of the police. The virus forced school and job closings creating the perfect opportunity for people to pay attention to how the policing of minority communities was done and gave them time to protest. This opportunity must not be missed. I believe that the following steps will deliver the reform that everyone demand.

1. The first step in this process has to be the naming of a civilian as the police commissioner. The goal of this change is the removal of policing from the control of the police the FOP, the PBA, and the politicians.

2. The commissioner, although appointed by the Mayor and approved by the council, must be as apolitical as this process can provide.

3. The commissioner’s office must carry out the administrative functions of the police department. Including developing the policy and procedures used to perform the function of policing

4. The commissioner’s office must negotiate the union contracts and carry out their day to day operations.

5. The commissioner should investigate all violations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and all complaints of the police by having civilian investigator to investigate the complaints and the legal department necessary to pursue legal                     action.

6. All Complaints against police must be investigated with full transparency.

CHEW YOUR FOOD

Since the murder of George Floyd, the country’s undergone a significant change. Massive, diverse protests have filled the streets in America and globally, calling for an end to police brutality and racism in all its forms.

May 31, a George Floyd protest in Cardiff Wales. Photo by Matthew Horwood, Getty Images

 

Shrines to a bigoted, uneven, and in some cases, patently false history are being torn down. National monuments are coming under fire about their true antiquity while sports teams are having to rethink the significance of their logos, names and mascots.

Seven Sports Teams Who’ve Changed their Names due to Racist Origins

Outwardly, people are finally examining what it means to be a black person or minority in America. And in many cases, that degree of introspection is visibly painful. Nevertheless, it’s occurring, despite Trump attempts to label #BLM a terrorist organization. Still, if meaningful police reform was and still is the goal of all this then the goal is visibly slipping away. Can it be reclaimed? Can we continue to harness, and more importantly nourish, this positive sway of worldwide solidarity we’ve been experiencing? The short answer is yes but we have to start chewing our food better.

It’s Un-American to Bring a Gun to a Fistfight

The title should be something fundamental; understood, appreciated and upheld by everyone.  That’s because the statement stems from America’s much-touted, storied past, when the written rule of law was practically non-existent, yet there nevertheless was a tangible, un-written code of conduct that those rugged early citizens attempted to live by.

Arizona State Senate candidate Bobby Wilson shot and killed his mother in 1963

This code came about not through happenstance but rather because of the nature of the human condition, man versus man.  It was his earliest attempts to control his baser instincts, drives and natures that surely would’ve rode us to extinction by now, had it not been for the code.  Today, it’s heralded mostly in pulp fiction and lore but truly, it still exists, or should exist, in the psyche of modern-day man.  I’m talking about the code of the west.

Point of New World Order

point of order – A claim made by a senator from the floor that a rule of the Senate is being violated. If the chair sustains the point of order, the action in violation of the rule is not permitted.

Glossary of the United States Senate

We heard that a lot for a bit, with the total replay that is cable news.  Democrats repeatedly called for points of order during the Strzok hearings, challenging the procedure, usually on the heels of seemed personal attacks or other unfounded allegations of “Deep State” or other fanciful intrusions.

Frankly, the Republican claim that the FBI is part of a “deep state” should be considered in the light in which it’s been offered; a ludicrous attempt to immunize a president from political and criminal harm; a president they’re not even sure of how deep his involvement in Russian election meddling goes.