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[parent] [thread] 6 comments
1. clairi+(OP)[view] [source] 2020-06-15 13:18:40
you're entirely warranted to be pissed about tear gas use, but it's misguided to expect quick and accurate federal redress, as the executive function intentionally doesn't cover state or local jurisdictions.

states run themselves, and the federal judiciary basically only steps in when state/local governments don't follow their own rules (the presumed expression of the will of the people) or violate the constitution. the constrained executive response follows from the judiciary (and sometimes the legislature).

and that's the way it should be. you want power local and limited, not consolidated and far away. that would only make things like use of force worse.

so the immediate appeal to authority should be to the local, and then state, judiciary and legislature stepping in with corrective actions. the feds aren't of much use here. they're intentionally a line of last (and slow) resort.

replies(3): >>mindsl+u3 >>x86_64+e4 >>xyzzy_+p9
2. mindsl+u3[view] [source] 2020-06-15 13:42:52
>>clairi+(OP)
I'm generally for states' rights, but the federal government stepping in to enforce civil rights in the face of local corruption has a long and storied history. Furthermore, the consent decree was already in place, so yes, enforcement should have been pretty quick and should actually have teeth to get these criminals prosecuted.
3. x86_64+e4[view] [source] 2020-06-15 13:47:53
>>clairi+(OP)
Why would people want power local and limited? Noting the sordid history of local, "States Rights", Jim Crow style policies that exist at the local level. Especially when the issue concerns US policing which is the ideological descendant of slave patrols.
replies(2): >>vorpal+ye >>clairi+1L
4. xyzzy_+p9[view] [source] 2020-06-15 14:17:48
>>clairi+(OP)
> you want power local and limited, not consolidated and far away. that would only make things like use of force worse.

Maybe in your country but in many, many places in the world this is demonstrably not the case.

replies(1): >>clairi+bJ
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5. vorpal+ye[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-15 14:49:49
>>x86_64+e4
Sheriffs date back to the early 1300s. Even up until the 1970s, small communities had local militias and army reserves when things got beyond what a sheriff could handle. Most of these places switched to policing in the late 70s and 80s. How, precisely is that "the ideological descendent of slave patrols"?
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6. clairi+bJ[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-15 17:06:23
>>xyzzy_+p9
> "Maybe in your country but in many, many places in the world this is demonstrably not the case."

as with markets, idiosyncratic conditions like sociopathy can lead to pockets of undue concentrations of power, no doubt.

but it would be even worse if those same conditions were concentrated on and elevated to wider populations. by distributing power, you can more effectively pit one against the other, and have some chance of bettering conditions over time. those chances decrease with power concentration.

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7. clairi+1L[view] [source] [discussion] 2020-06-15 17:13:29
>>x86_64+e4
> "Why would people want power local and limited?"

it's worse if we had the same sordid problems at a state or national level. it's rolling the dice once or 50 times vs. rolling them ~50,000 times.

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