9 Events Which Created the Environment for America's Emerging Police State

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/9-events-which-created-environment-americas-emerging-police-state



1. Ronald Reagan Escalates the War on Drugs

Although the war on drugs started under President Richard Nixon and continued under the administrations of Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, it was expanded considerably during Ronald Reagan’s two terms as president. Reagan proved to be much more draconian than Nixon, aggressively promoting militarized no-knock drug raids, asset forfeiture laws and mandatory minimum sentences, especially for crack cocaine. The drug war has greatly increased the prison population and placed a heavy burden on taxpayers, as well as imperiled many innocent Americans. Since the 1980s, there have been countless examples of narcotics officers targeting the wrong house or apartment for a no-knock SWAT raid, brandishing assault weapons and killing or injuring innocent people who had nothing to do with drugs. And when that happens, the officers hardly ever face incarceration or even civil charges.

2. Rodney King Beating of 1991

History repeats itself, and in 1992, 27 years after the Watts Riots, the acquittal of four white police officers who had viciously beaten Rodney King (an African-American motorist who led them on a high-speed chase) was followed by rioting that brought more deaths than the 1965 riots. King, by his own admission, was no saint, but a video of the March 3, 1991 beating clearly demonstrated that the officers crossed the line from legitimately subduing him (which they had every right to do) to being downright sadistic and acting in a spirit of revenge. Said then LA mayor Tom Bradley (a former LAPD lieutenant), “The men who beat Rodney King do not deserve to wear the uniform of the LAPD.” Bradley’s comments were hardly anti-law enforcement; he was proud of the years he had spent on the force. Rather, Bradley’s point was that instead of letting King have his day in court, the officers acted as judge and jury. And their acquittal encouraged a climate of authoritarianism in the United States.

3. 9/11 Terrorist Attacks

With the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda was hoping to destabilize the U.S. and weaken its standing in the world. And the George W. Bush administration played right into al-Qaeda’s hands, promoting a climate of fear and intimidation with the blessing of a Republican-dominated Congress. The Bush years brought a variety of authoritarian, anti-Fourth Amendment measures, from the Patriot Act of 2001 to no-fly lists to the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security. Instead of defying al-Qaeda by celebrating the U.S.’ long tradition of constitutional law, the Bush administration made the war on terror a war on American democracy.

4. Waterboarding and Torture at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base

After 9/11, the U.S. crossed a dangerous line when the CIA, with the blessing of the George W. Bush administration, openly supported the use of waterboarding on detainees at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. During the Cold War, the U.S. allied itself with a long list of fascist regimes that practiced torture. But it wasn’t until the post-9/11 era that an American vice president, Dick Cheney, came right out and flaunted the use of torture by the U.S. government itself.

[daleanime]

1. K&R....

Good list, but one very important reason was left off the list.

Violence being used as a solution to our problems. Especially when it comes to our foreign polity.

[Jerry442]

4. I visited D.C. last year, looked at the monuments,...

...and realized there was not one monument to the wars that were prevented. Want to go down in history as a hero? Get into a war that leads to destruction and death.

Want to die in obscurity? Work tirelessly over decades to avert violence and promote peace.

[daleanime]

6. Then, dear Lord, let me die obscure.

[KingCharlemagne]

15. Pentagon Papers leaker and now fervent antiwar activist Daniel Ellsberg says

that the country will not truly heal from the wounds of Vietnam until it erects a monument to the anti-war movement on the Mall to complement the highly-moving Vietnam War memorial there.

I guess that was Ellsberg's way of saying we'll never get over the wounds created by the Vietnam War.

I would only add that I think we owe massive reparaatons to the peoples of southeast Asia for what was done there in our collective name. I'm not holding my breath that reparations will happen anytime soon.

[G_j]

2. K&R

[WillyT]

3. K & R !!!

[KansDem]

5. 10. Kent State

Granted, it was the National Guard that did the killings, but there was no accountability to speak of in the aftermath. And when the "powers" see that they will not be held accountable, then you pave the way for these nine events described in the article.

[CanSocDem]

7. The recent behaviour...

...of police officers -all over North America- indicates that they're getting comfortable with their new power. They act without fear of reprisal in a climate of fear and hate.

Their fear and their hate.

k & r

.

[woo me with science]

21. Created, enabled, and protected by corporate-government rule in America.

Last edited Wed Oct 29, 2014, 06:14 PM - Edit history (1)

ON EDIT: The first link below has bizarrely disappeared and been replaced with another. So has the lengthy thread on Hillary's populist rhetoric versus her corporate record on actual policy positions.

I will try to reconstruct what was in the first link below:

Where the fuck are the politicians? Militarizing the police http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4959

The lack of a database on police killings is intentional.
http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10025429276

[Mr.Bill]

8. When I first saw the photos of the Abu Ghraib

torture, my first thought from my over-active sense of humor was that these guards will make fine correctional officers some day.

Count me as not shocked when I found out that one of them was a reservist who already was a correctional officer back home.

[LiberalArkie]

9. I would have to add the tv show COPS. Really the first one to glorify SWAT and terror tactics used

by many police forces. The shows used to be like Dragnet where the letter of the law was upheld.

[LiberalElite]

11. and it's broadcast on......Fox! Since 1988.

http://www.cops.com/langley-productions/

[LiberalArkie]

13. I wonder if the big bad rough & tumble cops we have now watched COPS when they were

child bullies and knew what they wanted to be when they grew up.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. Well, there was a (fictional) TV show called SWAT ...

It even had Top 40 theme music.

The fact that it's now showing on some cable networks, three and a half decades later, is a little creepy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.W.A.T._%28TV_series%29

[Uben]

10. We need to change the way law enforcement police themselves

The current system is obviously not working. Plus, we need to greatly increase the penalties for violation of citizen rights.

[whereisjustice]

12. I would also add the failure to prosecute Wall Street banking executives made it clear

that our police state is the result of a class war turned hot war.

Once you give up human rights, you never get them back. And as far as differences between the two parties on the issue of a police state, you can't be blamed for not noticing any difference between them on this issue. The rich who fund our two political parties spent the last 40 years transferring wealth from 300,000,00 people into the hands of a few thousand. The rich are using the police state to preserve their wealth.

As a result, our Democratic Party leadership apparatus isn't even trying.

[woo me with science]

16. Good post.

[hifiguy]

18. Bull's eye.

You got it in one.

[11 Bravo]

17. Democratic National Convention … 1968.

Appropriately described as a "police riot", but not a whole lot of punishment was handed down to the police who were involved.

[hifiguy]

19. Creeping fascism has been around since Hoover

tried to discredit Dr. King and anyone on the left. Save for a few years in the post-Watergate era it has steadily been on the march ever since. COINTELPRO ring any bells?

[woo me with science]

20. kick

[Glassunion]

22. 10. In 1985...

Coca-Cola introduces the "New Coke" recipe. Some "claimed" it was simply a marketing ploy. However, the devistating results are still being felt today.