Problem is 3.5 years of any one presidential term isn’t going to suddenly change the structural stuff. It’s unrealistic especially in the context of 8 years of bush and reagan each, plus 4 years of bush 1 AND 4 years of trump straight gassing protestors yet still potentially getting re-elected. PLUS a congress full of republicans supporting them all the way.
You will never see any structural change even remotely close to what you’re talking about, so long as people elect republicans. Even if you want to lean heavily on a single president to wave the wand, the next administration can just reverse/neuter it. Without a solid Democratic majority in congress to go along with a Democratic President you couldn’t even have the conversation.
If republicans get elected you’re going to be set back 10 more years and the conversation will be for a fraction of what could have been…
The Dems had the trifecta for just 2 years of Obama’s entire presidency. We had the supermajority for just 6 months. The conservatives filibustered everything when we didn’t hold the supermajority. That’s barely enough time to accomplish what was accomplished.
But one more important factor exists here. We (on the left) are not exactly in clear agreement on what specific policy changes need to be made in policing. So, this action will require (probably) months of debates and proposals. When we have trifectas, we usually go after the things we think we have time to actually accomplish (things that already have a clear solution).
With policing, my belief is that the core of the problems come from conservatism. Nearly every act of brutality, racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny and other abuse of power comes from conservative cops. The progressives don’t typically engage in such behaviors.
Unfortunately, less than 5% of cops (often less than 1%) in any agency are non-conservative or progressive. In smaller agencies, 100% of the cops are likely to be conservatives. If we were to make conservatism a disqualifying trait for policing nation-wide, we could eventually fix the core of the problem. We would also get support for legislative reform from the agencies themselves as the police who remain would be primarily normal people rather than conservatives. Forcing non-discriminatory behavior from conservatives through legislation alone would be nearly impossible. Conservatives don’t apply rules to themselves, so making more rules will likely not solve the problem. Getting rid of conservative police while attracting progressive police candidates will solve the core of the problem.
Openly identifying conservative ideology as the core of the problem may sound unusual, as normal people are usually too polite to say things so bluntly. But, conservatives are not a protected class and there is no place in a modern culture for their ideologies of hate and bigotry. So, we should speak openly about the problem of giving such people so much power over others. We should be specific in identifying the core of the problem so we can quickly and efficiently address it the next time we have a trifecta.
The USA is a modern house built on a foundation from the 18th century. It’s been cobbled together like the world’s biggest, most fucked up group project. I’ve seen enough Bob Vila to know that the only way to change even small things involves a full gut and rebuild.
Problem is 3.5 years of any one presidential term isn’t going to suddenly change the structural stuff. It’s unrealistic especially in the context of 8 years of bush and reagan each, plus 4 years of bush 1 AND 4 years of trump straight gassing protestors yet still potentially getting re-elected. PLUS a congress full of republicans supporting them all the way.
You will never see any structural change even remotely close to what you’re talking about, so long as people elect republicans. Even if you want to lean heavily on a single president to wave the wand, the next administration can just reverse/neuter it. Without a solid Democratic majority in congress to go along with a Democratic President you couldn’t even have the conversation.
If republicans get elected you’re going to be set back 10 more years and the conversation will be for a fraction of what could have been…
So why wasn’t it addressed during the Obama admin, when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress?
The Dems had the trifecta for just 2 years of Obama’s entire presidency. We had the supermajority for just 6 months. The conservatives filibustered everything when we didn’t hold the supermajority. That’s barely enough time to accomplish what was accomplished.
But one more important factor exists here. We (on the left) are not exactly in clear agreement on what specific policy changes need to be made in policing. So, this action will require (probably) months of debates and proposals. When we have trifectas, we usually go after the things we think we have time to actually accomplish (things that already have a clear solution).
With policing, my belief is that the core of the problems come from conservatism. Nearly every act of brutality, racism, xenophobia, transphobia, homophobia, misogyny and other abuse of power comes from conservative cops. The progressives don’t typically engage in such behaviors.
Unfortunately, less than 5% of cops (often less than 1%) in any agency are non-conservative or progressive. In smaller agencies, 100% of the cops are likely to be conservatives. If we were to make conservatism a disqualifying trait for policing nation-wide, we could eventually fix the core of the problem. We would also get support for legislative reform from the agencies themselves as the police who remain would be primarily normal people rather than conservatives. Forcing non-discriminatory behavior from conservatives through legislation alone would be nearly impossible. Conservatives don’t apply rules to themselves, so making more rules will likely not solve the problem. Getting rid of conservative police while attracting progressive police candidates will solve the core of the problem.
Openly identifying conservative ideology as the core of the problem may sound unusual, as normal people are usually too polite to say things so bluntly. But, conservatives are not a protected class and there is no place in a modern culture for their ideologies of hate and bigotry. So, we should speak openly about the problem of giving such people so much power over others. We should be specific in identifying the core of the problem so we can quickly and efficiently address it the next time we have a trifecta.
Did President Obama have “total control” of Congress? Yes, for 4 entire months.
LOL no discourse. Only downvotes. Good job lemmings.
Your comment aged like milk.
The USA is a modern house built on a foundation from the 18th century. It’s been cobbled together like the world’s biggest, most fucked up group project. I’ve seen enough Bob Vila to know that the only way to change even small things involves a full gut and rebuild.