Note from Norm: America’s Political Left – Do the crime, don’t do the time
For years, the American people have been lectured by the nation’s political left, progressives, Democrats and Democratic Socialists (not that there seems to be much of difference these days) that Republicans and Conservatives had gone too far in their support for “Law and Order.”
As the voices of the radical left, aided and abetted by the One-Party Media, drowned out the voices of American citizens crying out for protecting from increasing crime rates, violent attacks on their neighborhoods by rioters and criminals, we were told that it was time to “reform” the system.
All cops were bad. Every prosecutor who prosecuted any crime (the kind of thing that comes with the job description!) was an extremist. Any citizen who said aloud they feared for the safety of their children, their families and their communities were branded as intolerant or worse.
After this week’s primaries in some of the most liberal cities in America it may be that the adults are finally taking back the reins of government.
The recall of San Francisco’s radical progressive District Attorney Chesa Bodin could be a harbinger of what’s to come in this year’s mid-term elections. A District Attorney who was more concerned with coddling criminals than prosecuting the ones that were arrested by the cops doing their jobs was finally ousted by voters who were tired of the politically correct rhetoric as their city was overrun by crime.
As the New York Post writes, “Boudin’s loss followed February’s recalls of three San Francisco school members amid outrage over their decision to spend time renaming one-third of the city’s schools instead of reopening classrooms closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The victory by Conservative Los Angeles Businessman Rick Caruso to run against Progressive Congresswoman Karen Bass underscores even more that voters – Liberals, Conservatives, Independents – have had enough of the nonsense that government’s first priority isn’t to protect its people – it’s to protect the criminal acts of criminals.
If that seems like a harsh indictment I am not going to shy away from saying it. In my home state of Minnesota liberal politicians in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and other close suburban communities, have made a point of undermining law enforcement every chance they get.
In Minneapolis, City Councilmembers who wanted to Defund the Police had the gall to use taxpayers money to pay for their private security protection while citizens they “represented” were being gunned down in the street. Thankfully, Minneapolis voters turned down the same Councilmembers efforts to Defund the Police at the polls and sent some of their packing.
In St. Paul the city’s police chief, easily one of the most progressive thinking members of law enforcement in the nation, was consistently undermined by the Mayor who refused to add more cops, ignored repeated please by law enforcement and citizens to implement technology to track down and arrest gun toting criminals, retired at the end of last month.
The same Mayor who undermined him and his police department will decide who the next police chief will be. If past is prologue the state’s Capitol City will see a police chief more committed to advancing the Mayor’s agenda that fails to protect his City. This, coupled with the county attorney who serves St. Paul who has no interest in doing his job, means that the downward spiral in public safety in one of America’s greatest cities will continue.
Minnesota’s Governor, who played a key role in allowing the state’s largest city to burn at the hands of rioters and criminals before he realized part of his job description was to protect its citizens, continues to be slow to act to respond to the state’s public health crisis – and I don’t mean a global pandemic.
There is a pandemic of crime in Minnesota, and across America, and the only people who fail to see it is liberals and progressives who want to insist that it’s not as bad as Conservatives and Republicans say it is.
Keep in mind these are the same voices early in the inflation pandemic who assured us that it would only last a brief time – and that people who have to pay more for food, gas and other life essentials were overreacting.
As I write this piece the Washington Post has a “Breaking News” story showing that 66% of Americans expect inflation to get worse. And, according to the poll they conducted with the George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, nearly 9 in 10 Americans “…say they’ve started bargain-hunting for cheaper products, and about three-quarters are cutting back on restaurants and entertainment, or putting off planned purchases…”
For my liberal and progressive friends who accuse me of complaining without offering solutions, I have to remind them of my record as Mayor of St. Paul and my record as a United States Senator. During my time as an elected official I added more cops to the streets, implored the City and County prosecutors to be aggressive in the pursuit of justice to victims of crime, and supported then (and still do) the Broken Window Theory of public safety.
When I became Mayor of St. Paul, I met with the Police Commander of the downtown district, Sgt Terry Trooien I told him it didn’t matter if you had .50 cents or 50 dollars in your pocket, we should not tolerate urinating in the street or assaulting or harassing those living and working downtown. He said to me, “Mayor, I’ve been waiting for that directive.” And he and his fellow officers did their job and St. Paul was markedly, safer, cleaner, and more vibrant by the time I left office.
The solution to public safety requires a comprehensive approach that has to have prevention and enforcement at the forefront of it, along with a commitment to prosecute criminals. We are a nation of laws and if we choose to ignore them because they are inconvenient or because of virtue signaling we are sending a noticeably clear message to criminals: Do the crime, don’t do the time.
Progressives, liberals, and their allies in the One-Party Media have spent the past several years claiming that they had a vision of a safer America for all Americans. That vision has victimized the poor, minority communities, women, and children.
Americans have a choice at the ballot box and increasingly are making it clear that “Law and Order” isn’t a slogan – it’s the most important, and first, obligation of government.