The Ultimate Con Job

It is hard to read William Norman Grigg, Radley Balko, or William Anderson and retain a good mood. It is getting harder and harder to respect law enforcement and the military. The "good" honest cops, prosecutors, and soldiers are at best dupes, with a false belief in the goodness of our political system and in the laws and policies they enforce. But even the good ones are trapped in damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't moral dilemmas, and do more harm than good.

And then we have the psychopaths, who enjoy killing, torturing, and intimidating people just because they can. They love the uniform and the gun, they love the power. Frankly, I have more respect for hired goons and in the underworld; they're at least in it for the money.

And then there are scumbags. They use the system for self-aggrandizement. They don't care about the innocent, they care about their conviction rates. They don't care about the "collateral damage," they care about getting another star.

It makes me wish they were all merely corrupt takers of bribes and looters of the public treasury. After all, cops on the take are not menacing figures, and they're inclined to leave you alone. People in positions of power, who are only in it for the money, are would more likely have greater natural empathy toward the innocent and suffering.

Because of human nature, the State is inevitable. That is not the same as saying that the state is necessary or desirable, only inevitable. And not because the State protects us from violent and conscience-less people; rather, it is violent and conscience-less people who create and run the State.

It's the ultimate con job, because the State depends on the good will of the people.