Going to out and say it: I don’t like the current state of America. Trump is not a good president, no matter now the Republican National Convention tried to spin it. As if it wasn’t already hard enough to trust America as a nation outside America (see here for just a small example) or a minority inside America (see the civil rights movement) Trump has exacerbated the problem greatly by near-constantly lying to make himself look good and anyone who disagrees with him look bad.
Of course, Trump isn’t the only thing I’d like to talk about here. I don’t know how many more political articles I’ll write, but at least for now I’d like to lay out my current ideology as well as stances on today’s hot topics.
I apologize in advance for not citing enough sources; I’ll add links later if I remember to.
Overarching Ideology
- All humans deserve to live a comfortable life. With the amount of technology we have, there should be no physical reason why we can’t achieve this goal.
- A government’s primary purpose is to support all the people under it’s domain so that (1) is fulfilled. Democratic, federal, tiered governments seem to be the best at this so far.
- Market-based economic system assumptions are close enough to true in enough scenarios that they should stay in use.
- A government’s secondary purpose is to control for the excesses of market-based economics, especially with respect to the environment and (1).
- The scientific method of conducting experiments and collecting evidence and using good statistics is the best way to understand truth.
Black Lives Matter
I whole-heartedly support their goal: ensuring that African-American and other minorities can finally be treated as true equals to the white majority in this country. Decades of economic and social prejudice stand in the way. I’m not sure what a solution is, and also not entirely sure what I can do besides make sure I am aware of the struggle and provide support as I see it in my everyday life. It feels like I should be more proactive but again, I don’t think I’m in a position yet to do more.
Protests and Police Brutality
Over the past month or more, there have been many protests for a specific policy target of BLM: the disproportionate use of force against minorities. George Floyd, arrested for supposedly using a $20 counterfit bill, died after a police officer very harshly put him in a hold with a knee on his kneck. Protests over his death caused more death at the hands of police officers, and the situation keeps spiraling. The most recent death publicized was that of Jacob Blake, shot 7 times in the back in front of his children for “resisting arrest” while walking back to his car. These deaths sicken me to know that there are people with so little regard for the life of others, often racistly.
A rallying cry has been “defund the police.” The protest have seen a massive backlash by the police, with many videos showing excessive use of teargas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, and other “nonlethal” weapons that nontheless cause extreme discomfort. Reporters have been teargasses and even arrested while following police instructions (one of the more extreme videos I saw was an entire news team being slowly arrested while the camera was still rolling on live television). These uses of force also disturbed me.
I’m not sure if I advocate for fully defunding the police. I do think it is a very reasonable suggestion to cut back on police budgets so they can’t afford Ferraris or stockpile military-grade equipment. I also think treating the causes of crime via community support effots is also an excellent plan. This is where my certainty stops, because I don’t have enough information of the efficacy of community support programs or how much they cost or what one would even look like. I am certain that the theory around policing needs to change from “we are the only thing stopping criminals from taking over” to “how can we make everyone in our community feel safe and respected?”
Ok that was enough for one post. In the next one like this, I’d like to tackle QAnon or maybe free speech. See ya then.