Sorry but "Defund the Police" is just dumb messaging

[Warpy]

122. Yes and no

As always, looking behind the slogan is essential. Unfortunately, Republicans are totally out of practice, so "drain the swamp" meant something a lot different to most of them than it did to Big Dummy.

In this case, it means putting their budget somewhere besides war equipment like tear gas, rubber bullets, pepper spray, and general Robocop no tolerance policing. Nobody expects cops to work for nothing and nobody sane wants to do away with them entirely. The slogan is about demilitarization, not elimination, with the money saved put into things that will make a difference, like mental health outreach.

"Demilitarize the cops" isn't catchy. "Let Cops Be Cops" might be a better one, they should never have been saddled with things like being the mental health care of last resort---it just doesn't work. They should also never have been tasked with being an occupying army because Nixon hated the Posse Comitatus Act as much as he hated hippies, students, and black people.

So maybe we need to turn the considerable DU brain trust toward coming up with a better slogan, one that doesn't scare white suburbanites as much. Or not.