My words here today are to delve into the matters of our society’s law enforcement. That the people have seen the civil unrest that has been created by this institution sought to protect us. That the government has harbored a system where unethical people can be employed into a position of power with ease. A position of power that has the jurisdiction to threaten life and justify that it comes with the job. I am here to address where the problem lay and the discourse that must be taken to reform this imperfection in civil society. It is in the interest of the public good to do so because natural law is being exploited and natural rights are being threatened. First and foremost, the phrase “defund the police,” seems aggressive and divisive to our exigency. The phrase sparks controversy and disrupts progress. We are rather looking towards reformation in order to keep faith in civil society. We are addressing this issue, not because of political agenda or gain, but because the state of nature obliges, “being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”
The problem that lays over this institution stems from my concept of paternal power in chapter six of the Second Treatise of Government. Children are born lacking reason, and it is the parent’s job to govern the actions of “their yet ignorant nonage” until they do so. Fundamentally education is also a crucial aspect of cognitive development- to further instill reason and understanding. It begs my main question and argument, “why are people required to further their education after college into law school in order to practice the law, but we require no such extensivity into this prerequisite in order to enforce the law?”
As a society, we have allowed young adults with minimal formal education into a position of power in civil society. We are relying on the faith that these people’s parents governed their offspring in a susceptible way of reason. However, we have had some unethical people slip through the cracks and into power. Our system has allowed misguided individuals to easily obtain the means to dictate natural law. But these subjects are not the only ones to blame. In laymen’s terms and popular culture “no such thing as a bad student, only bad teacher.”- The Karate Kid (1984) The right teachings can help civil society by creating more socially conscious people. More conscious and thorough education is the remedy for this problem. Maybe it is time that we make all levels of law enforcement require a college degree.
I believe in law enforcement as an institution because civil society can only function if it is governed by reason. However, I believe we have failed to create a system that has thoroughly employed people that can sufficiently and functionally protect with reason. Society needs not to look to defunding as the solution, but rather retooling the means. I believe as of recent, the city of Denver has been experimenting with a new application where they send mental health professionals and paramedics to some 911 calls instead of law enforcement (Denver Post). Remember, America is a nation like no other. It is a diverse melting pot that’s foundations are a culmination of my ideas and theories of what civil society ought to be. Keep in mind, it is a young country compared to the rest of civilization and is rather a social experiment to see if democracy can in fact endure. We cannot forget that the function of this government is for the people. We cannot lose sight of reason.