A big problem for the left is their lack of competence in labeling their proposals. Medicare for all, Green New Deal, Defund Police etc... They hamstring themselves by giving the opposition easy talking points with which to bash the concepts. Universal Healthcare, Jobs for the Next Century, Reinvent Policing would be better just off the top of my head. Definitely need to enlist the services of marketing folks. "Fix the Damn Roads!" worked for that woman in Fucking scUM.
That's a good point, although I am not sure it demonstrates a lack of competence. This goes to why I harp on the very real difference between Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy. Medicare for All or Single Payer National Health Insurance is a policy of the Democratic Socialists. As is the Green New Deal. They also probably want to literally defund the police and use that money for wealth redistribution. Your reframing reflects policies of Social Democracy. Universal Healthcare can and should involve private health insurance and private medicine. The role of government is regulation, to make sure quality affordable coverage is available to everyone.
Good discussion. "Defund the Police" seems to be shorthand for a collection of ideas, including spending less money on military hardware, changing the “warrior culture,” and spending more money on mental health and communication.
Agree that it’s a terrible slogan. It implies that you want to punish (but not change) the police. And we all know that when you're explaining what a slogan “really means” you have a political loser. The leading advocates for change should hire conservative political wordsmith Frank Lutz to help rebrand the message.
FWIW, here’s an op-ed piece from The New Republic that argues for revamping the training standards for police departments.
The Police’s “Sheepdog” Problem
“Policing is not combat, it’s not a war. It’s an entirely different world, an entirely different mindset. Yet the preparation is parallel to the military.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/158136/military-veterans-police-sheepdog-problem
We don't live in a utopia.
Revamping the training standards requires funding to implement the training standards. Defunding the police, a brain dead idea, results in less funding.
Less funding reduces the size of the work force, which increases the workload, which reduces the time available for the work force to go thru the required training programs.
More training is probably not going to have much of an impact on people like Chauvin. What Chauvin did comes across as pure evil.
A simplistic comparison may be Lovie and Fleck. Both appear to be changing the cultures of the programs. Changing the culture in the police starts at the top. Fleck has managed to change the culture and win games. Lovie has had a little difficulty with the win games aspect.
People who want to be better people don't need more work and more regulation. Nor do they want people like Chauvin as co-workers.
I'm guessing a huge stumbling block may be Bob Kroll, the head of the police union.
Be a better person, and stop protecting people like Chauvin.
LA apparently spent $1.9 million on a pr firm to craft their coronavirus message. I think we could all find a better way to spend that money.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/special-report-how-union-supreme-court-shield-minneapolis-cops/ar-BB152vKq
RecentTRANSFER PORTAL 2026 by Custard
WTF is up with this Clown... by illiniray
No New Wars! Well, maybe ... by Reacher
Cycling
by murphstahoe 
Total Members: 142