Will The Military Become The Police? - 5

Jay walking can get you killed in Ferguson, MO

When I first started this series some years ago, the first sentence mentioned that it would probably sound crackpot to many people.

I then went through some activity that took place in New Orleans in the wake of Katrina where the military had become the police to some degree.

I mean, the military was patrolling the streets in military vehicles, wearing military uniforms, and giving people traffic tickets (Will The Military Become The Police?).

I sensed that we had fallen asleep to the dangers our founders warned us about, in terms of the dangers that a military inherently presents to a nation (The Greatest Source Of Power Toxins?).

Especially when it becomes an institution that competes for increasing amounts of tax dollars year in and year out (MOMCOM: A Mean Welfare Queen).

Is the military already the police?

And competes with domestic needs such as infrastructure and health care dollars (Your Health Is Their Number 1 Enemy?!, 2).

Why, in our cultural mindset, is using the military all the time better than using it rarely?

The notion of an increasingly militarized police army is no longer a crackpot idea, now that all the Iraq military equipment is showing up in police vehicle yards around the country.

Then showing up in a neighbourhood near you or me (Interactive Map of Military Arms Sent To Counties in U.S.).

Whatever happened to concern for the good of the people (The Common Good, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)?

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.

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