The only laws that matter are the laws that are enforced. If that’s not perfectly clear at this point, in the wake of 2020, all hope for a free society is gone. For the better part of the past year the police stood by and watched while rioters and looters destroyed small businesses in cities around America. Surprisingly, conservatives still found mealy-mouth excuses for the police force. The police enforced lockdowns, arrested business owners, and enforced curfews arbitrarily set by despot governors and mayors, but even as they participated in destroying lives and livelihoods of small business owners the right flew their thin blue line flags for the state’s enforcement arm.
This (seemingly) inexplicable loyalty to law enforcement has always been the boldest line between libertarians and conservatives. I, having come from the right, have often found this subject to be the one subject that was considered the most controversial and created the most conflict when discussing libertarian ideas with conservative friends. Even when trying to steer clear of the subject in order to better explain economics or the evils of the drug war it would inevitably be brought up when they were ready to dismiss my arguments altogether. This coping mechanism for extreme cognitive dissonance isn’t exclusive to the right. It is the equivalent of a leftist calling you racist, sexist, homophobic, or a NAZI.
But this loyalty isn’t so inexplicable, and it has served their ideology well. It just takes a little insight into the conservative mindset. The conservative regards the founding of these United States as the greatest achievement of man in the advancement of freedom. They believe their lip service about liberty and freedom is the preservation of the ideas of Jefferson or Madison. And they believe that the only reason they are living the life of prosperity and freedom, to the extent these things exist, is because of the Constitution, it’s limits on federal government, and the protections of the military and police as the first lines of defense against all enemies foreign and domestic.
It never mattered how many times a Daniel Shaver or Breonna Taylor were murdered by police. It never mattered how many people were spending life in prison for victimless acts. It didn’t matter because it was the job of the officers to know the facts that the public could and should never know. The public should never be exposed to the ugliness of the police. They serve and protect so you never have to know those facts, those horrors, and the battle between good and evil taking place on American soil every day.
I remember showing a friend the collateral murder video released by Wikileaks. He told me that I should sympathize as a veteran; “it’s called the fog of war.” In other words, you can’t understand these terrible occurrences because you weren’t there, and you’re not there experiencing these horrific things because they volunteered so you could be home sleeping safe and sound in your own bed. ‘Of course bad things are going to happen. No one is perfect. Put yourself in a stressful life and death situation rather than examining everything through hindsight and the information available today,’ the conservative would say.
Paint this perspective in patriotism, wrap it in a flag, and sprinkle some constitution on it and that’s how conservatives have traditionally viewed law enforcement and military.
In recent weeks the stress of lockdowns, riots, and a lost election have taken a toll on conservatives. Ford Fisher released video of conservatives fighting with cops, stomping on a thin blue line flag, protesting the lockdowns, and cursing at police. The first flash of this surfaced after the grueling death of George Floyd, but rioters gave conservatives an opening to congregate back in the corner of the police. Someone had to do something about the anarchy spreading through the cities of America. Police took this surge of support as a sign to carry out all the despotic orders of governors and mayors, allowing “peaceful protesters” to burn down cities, then arresting business owners struggling to stay afloat, threatening those celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas, detaining 900 people for New Year’s celebrations, and shooting anti-lockdown protesters with rubber bullets. The police have lost all support.
It’s unfortunate that conservatives have had to learn through experience that the police are only here to serve and protect the state and the political class. I see the scales falling from the eyes of many people I know, and I realize that this is good for liberty. In many ways conservatives are very near the principles of libertarianism. They focus solely on the Bill of Rights when talking about the constitution. They have a very high respect for the individual and private property. They enjoy discussing freedom and liberty in the abstract, and how it may be realized on a personal level. They are near teetering on the edge of minarchism - some radically so. If not for that pesky trust in law enforcement we could breakthrough and expand the liberty movement.
Fortunately, the police have lost all support, and it is good for liberty.