Home

But not the way you think.

America was founded on the concept of equal opportunity, vs equal outcomes, and our Constitution specifically prohibits titles of nobility or royalty.

This has not stopped our culture from stratifying into three broad categories--the commoners, the Celebrities, and the Ruling class, or effective nobility, and the latter's Enforcers.

The commoners are accountable under law and pay heavy penalties for digressing from the convoluted path dictated by the Ruling Class. Commoners have their assets seized--houses, cars, bank accounts, even wardrobes, if an Enforcer of the ruling class claims he thinks he smelled something that might have been pot, or maybe just some burning leaves a few blocks away.

The commoner's recourse is to beg, plead, hope that someday Justice Will Be Done, and he'll recover what hasn't been sold, destroyed or flat out stolen, and maybe he won't have spent his entire future, and his children's, recovering it. http://reason.com/blog/2017/12/15/no-damages-for-victims-of-kansas-pot-rai 

Meanwhile, the Ruling Class can literally ignore a very simple federal law, such as one that distils as, "It is illegal to leave sensitive data insecure," and argue that "Well, no one actually got hurt that you know of, so the law doesn't apply to me."  And have fawning lackeys try to double-talk that a crime that other people do get put in jail for is not actually a crime when a Special Person does it. https://www.computerworld.com/article/2895892/hillary-clintons-email-system-was-insecure-for-two-months.html 

The Celebrity Class can be glamorized as heroic while attacking others and evade law with impunity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Polanski#Sexual_abuse_case   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Weinstein_sexual_abuse_allegations 

The Enforcement Class can gun you down dead where you stand, shrug and claim it was an accident, and really, actually your fault for not understanding their policies that they clearly shouted at you. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mesa-police-shooting-daniel-shaver-seen-crawling-begging-in-disturbing-video/ 

Some time back I asked myself, "What is the downside of being a federal politician?"  Congressmen get a high salary, almost unlimited travel and other perqs, invites to any number of shindigs paid for by others, "fact finding missions" and "Summits" in exotic parts of the world.  Certainly, some of them do legitimate work in the process, but they have the finest working conditions in human history, and are just about unaccountable. They have to anger both the opposition and their own party before anything is done, and even that is usually minimally inconvenient. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Traficant#Prison_and_later_life 

Celebrities are revered for doing jobs no harder than any other, simply with more visibility, and treated as if they are thereby relevant. You're an athlete who dropped out of school? What do you think of this scientific crisis? You're an actor with a few college credits or some generic liberal arts degree? What do you think of this major legal matter? http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/12/26/rosie-odonnell-tells-paul-ryan-hes-going-straight-to-hell.html 

https://nypost.com/2017/11/11/the-hypocrisy-of-bono-and-his-one-charity/ 

The Enforcers are pretty much immune from the laws they enforce.  Police (and I mean when not responding to an emergency) can speed, violate traffic signs, toss their cigarette waste out the window, text while driving, and if anyone questions, they pull out a badge and walk away. Even, as noted, if they've murdered you in a fashion that would send a commoner to jail for life. Or worse. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-georgia-deputy-acquitted-after-flash-bang-grenade-hurts-toddler-n479361 

What America needs is more violence.

A few Celebrities getting beaten senseless would remind them that not everyone adores and worships them. Take away the pretty looks and many of them are unemployable.

But how does that violence improve things? Simple: It makes them aware that their opinions matter no more than others, and at the end of the day, anyone's outrageous statement can result in an ass kicking, and if that's a problem, possibly fewer outrageous statements are in order. https://jezebel.com/5369395/whoopi-on-roman-polanski-it-wasnt-rape-rape  Because common people risk abuse and jail for protesting and resisting. In the past, in fact, even some celebrities did so, such as when they marched with Dr King. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/celebrities-who-joined-the-march-on-washington/2013/08/19/ed761f1a-005a-11e3-9711-3708310f6f4d_gallery.html?utm_term=.f905d43486ec 

A handful of effective assassinations a year would make the Ruling Class aware that the ultimate democratizer is death, and that the constituents they claim to represent expect results, or preferably, inaction, to endless blather followed by pointless regulation and jackbootery. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/02/democratic-lawmaker-dont-worry-constitution-health-care-overhaul.html 

But how, I'm asked, will we keep good politicians in place like that?

That's the point. If they feel a need, they should run, serve, and get out.  It was never intended to be a lifetime gravy train for the animals that are more equal than others.  Clint Eastwood served a single term as mayor, then went home. http://mentalfloss.com/article/78257/30-years-ago-clint-eastwood-was-elected-mayor-carmel-california We need more of that.  

This also applies to bureaucrats. If someone in extreme agony from joint or neural issues blows away an FDA paper pusher, perhaps the rest will be reminded that their job is to approve effective medications, not create more pages of rules. Or perhaps they'll just quit, and we can let people decide for themselves if the pain is worth the risk of other side effects, rather than having some chair-warmer decide for them.

The Enforcers would be much better aware of their obligations if a few more of them died in the immoral process of kicking in a door that doesn't have a life or death situation behind it. They should be asking themselves, "Is someone else's life in danger? Because if not, I shouldn't be using a weapon."  Does that entail risk? Certainly. But when was the last time you heard a military commander, or a fire chief, announce, "The important thing is that my people went home safe"? Sure, the building burned down and 200 people died, but not a single firefighter was hurt, thank God.

We demand more bravery and responsiveness from firefighters than cops.

If someone calls an Enforcer, it's because there might actually be a risk to life, and he's entirely a volunteer who has accepted that call. If his life is more valuable to him than that of those he (allegedly) serves, that's fine.  But he needs to find another profession.

And yes, a few of them getting blown away with the same impunity with which they blow away completely unarmed non-threats might remind them of that fact, and send the weak ones to easier paths. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-justine-damond-australian-woman-killed-my-minneapolis-police-calls-n831686 

They should absolutely be held to at least the same standards as Commoners, and given the exact same punishment for wrongdoing. No special funds for defense, no assumption that any shot is a good shot, no country club prisons with other cops and politicians, safe from the violence visited on ordinary criminals. Because if they violate the public trust, they ARE ordinary criminals.

Now, I've had people who claim to be pro cop (meaning, they don't think cops can ever be fallible) ask if I understand that officer would be raped to death by inmates the first day in Gen Pop.

Gosh, I hope not.

With luck, they can pass him around for six weeks, and then finish him off with a toilet plunger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abner_Louima 

And that might be a good lesson for the rest of them.