Failure As An Option

I’m hardly an expert on foreign policy. That represents a big difference between most who post on Facebook and me. Between the political experts and Constitutional scholars, social media has just about obviated the need for formal education or rational thought.

I can't help thinking, though, of the news about Afghanistan or the potential future. It’s not a pretty picture, but an inevitable one. "All things must end," as Bernie Madoff said when made off with the last dollar with which anyone trusted him.

It took us longer to fail in Afghanistan than it did the Russians. That, I admit, is "damning with faint praise."

I’m temped to say that it was an example of applying the wrong solution to the right problem which is, someone said, better than applying the right solution to the wrong problem. The bull enclosed in the ring and surrounded by thousands of screamers is not wrong to charge. It's just that the red cape isn't the right problem.

In our case, it was right to deal with the terror, cruelty, murder and instability created by unreasoning religious fever. It's just that guns were never going to accomplish the goal of peace against an army whose members were going to receive 72 virgins in Heaven upon death in battle. Oh, and lest we forget, it was an army supplied and supported by a neighboring country with its own flair for duplicity.

We held the zealots back for a long spell with sheer force. But in the long run, their god was stronger than our god. Instead of applying military power in such cases, we might have tried facts, reason, and rationale. After all, we had 20 years.

But to do that now, we’d have to set an example right here in America first. The current situation in our state doesn't suggest success though.

FACING A CRISIS

 Random thoughts running through my head this morn.

Several years back, I received a license plate designating me as a United States military veteran. Since then, police officers have stopped me four times for speeding. Yeah, about once every two years. Each time, guess what? Yep, they let me go. What’s scary as hell to think about is that, had those stops occurred in some cities in our country, and I had not been white—even with the license plate—I may have been murdered, tased, or beaten.

Yeah, I didn’t run. I didn’t resist. I didn’t become belligerent. In fact, the last time I said “Officer, you got me fair and square. No excuse.” He laughed and told me to go and behave in the future.

I know. I know. I’m white and this ain’t Minnesota.

Every police officer I have known personally is a decent, honest, admirable person. I did meet a few as a young serviceman in Charleston, S.C. back in the 60s who weren’t so, but they followed the “Charleston Model” of hating people of color and military personnel in equal proportions. The usually didn’t kill sailors. They simply beat them until their own mothers wouldn’t recognize them and then “frog marched” them up the gangway of their ship next morning in full view of the crew. Message delivered.

But I digress. I, unlike all other Americans, have no clue this morning as how to solve the crisis among this minority of law enforcement personnel. A simple, “Don’t execute anyone for a traffic violation,” standing order might help. A thorough look into the long-standing rumor that white supremacy cults are actively infiltrating police departments wouldn’t hurt. Suggesting to personnel that if they are going to execute someone for a minor offense, best not to do it on camera might help.

No, I don’t think that is the answer. I’m not sure further training is the answer. As my old running buddy, Argumento de Minimus the Harvard-bred lawyer, would say, “Hell, I thought it was a taser,” doesn’t pass the smell test. I do know that supremely idiotic rantings such as “Defund the Police,” are counter-productive. That one almost got Donald Trump re-elected.

I do know that I want good police officers out there when I go to bed tonight. I do suspect, from actual data I have read, that a small percentage of officers garner most of the complaints from the public, so punishing every officer isn’t the most economical way to solve the crisis.

Maybe if we just quit hating one another long enough to think straight, it wouldn’t to any harm.