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More or less, with a side of 'the alternative to a social contract is a brutal failed state' and 'policing is the first job of the state' and 'the difference between an absent hand and a light one is not real'. Also fuck criminals. Especially with increasing education polarization there's a substantial undercurrent of 'well thieves should get hanged anyways, so if the police knock them around a little harder than they're supposed to they're still getting off light'.
I agree with this. People who don’t like the police tend to assume that the alternative to over-policing is peace. But if the cops cannot stop crime (or more properly are not permitted to use tools at their disposal to effectively stop crime) the alternative is this falling on the general public. Which has none of the advantages of using police (who can be controlled to some degree because they’re deputized to enforce actual laws, and to respect the rights of citizens) and thus becomes a problem of every person in the general public carrying a weapon and deciding based on only concern for themselves and their families whether or not to use that weapon. Vigilante Justice will become the norm, to approval of normal people who want law and order so that they can safely go to the store or even to the park without fear. They’ll approve because they don’t want their stuff stolen and will protect it.
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