SOMETIMES YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE

          It's hard to watch the news on television or pick up a newspaper or simply pay attention to what's put out there on the internet to know that America is now pretty much a police state.  Sounds absolutely awful, right?  Well, maybe it is . . . and maybe it isn't.  Sometimes you get what you deserve, and if you think you're not deserving of being watched or harassed or even brutalized by the police, think about what has led to this.  We scream out heads off about individual rights and the preservation of liberties, but we haven't always handled them well.  The U.S., meaning the society around us, is one of the world's most violent and unlawful.  Here's a for instance for you.  If you think we're all that law abiding, just get in your car and drive around town, or take a trip out on the interstate.  I live in Texas where posting a speed limit sign along a roadway is pretty much seen by the public as a challenge, a dare.  We have some of the highest speed limits in the nation, and I usually drive a few miles over the limit . . . and I get passed a lot by faster cars.  Finding a 90 mph driver on the interstate here isn't at all uncommon.
          We are also one of the nation's biggest gun toting states, and hunting here is more than just a recreation.  Not long ago a local EMS worker spoke of a horrible accident he got called to help with. Two men in all terrain vehicles, those four-wheel things, were riding around a local game ranch in the middle of the night, and one of them rolled down an embankment.  Two boys were in that vehicle, both of them under 10 years of age, and one was killed.  The other had to be airlifted out, don't know what happened to him.  The driver of the vehicle had disappeared, just ran off into the dark, probably drunk and confused.  He was the uncle of the boys, on a family outing between two brothers who had the lack of judgment to take along two kids who should have never been there.  What were they doing out in the middle of the night?  Is that the way you're supposed to hunt?  And this is an example of where police are needed.  Speeding is another good example, and we brought this on ourselves by being irresponsible about using our privileges to move about and be free people.
          I did some checking recently about which states were the most peaceful and which were the most violent.  Texas didn't make the top ten in either category, but some states I've lived in did. Oklahoma was near the top as a violent state, and it's also near the top in the percentage of its population behind bars.  Where you find violence and other crimes, you find big police units, and where you find situations like that, you also find lots of incarceration.  It's like the old saying that if the shoe fits, wear it.  I live in a relatively safe town of about 6,000 people in central Texas.  You don't really have to lock doors here, and you don't hear sirens screaming all the time.  But there is a preparedness here for lawlessness that didn't exist when I was growing up in a small town back in South Carolina.  We ran the streets of that mill village town like a bunch of little hooligans, doing things most kids do, and never generating anything that approached criminal behavior.  If we got out of line, adults moved in and corrected us.  And it was a line, you know, that societal standard about appropriate behavior that's important to any decent society.  Somewhere along the line, that line broke down . . . and cops and courts replaced the adult leadership that controlled us back then.
          What I'm saying here is simple:  We're getting what we deserve, for the most part.  No, cops should not shoot down suspects like we've seen in the press lately.  No, cops shouldn't bully or badger the public.  We howl about profiling, but if we want to stop that we need to stop being the poster boy for criminal behavior.  It doesn't take a police organization long to figure out where the crime is coming from, and when that happens, you're going to get profiled.  I'm not trying to make a case here for more government intrusion into the lives of private citizens, and I don't think our various governments around the nation are on a mission to destroy freedoms here.  We're not fully to blame for this build-up of a police state in America, but we sure haven't done much to help our own cause in avoiding it.  It's hard sometimes to support police causes when they're out there doing bad things, but you can't train a dog to bite intruders in your yard and then expect it to simply sit on your front porch and wag its tail at everybody who walks up.   We should think about that.  We should think about it a lot.

LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY!

First off, don't mistake me for a mule-headed right winger who thinks brute force is the answer to everything.  I listen to the Republican candidates talk about what they'd do if elected President in regard to terrorism, and I get concerned about the future of America.  I listen to Donald Trump talk, and I want to resort to violence myself.  You know, like envisioning myself holding a loaded rifle with a scope, and he's in the crosshairs.  Got to give him credit for one thing, though - he's talking to lots of people who agree with him.  He knows how to play on people's emotions, and that's the last thing we should rely on in times of crisis.

And then, I listen to Obama talk, like he did a few days back in his short speech aimed at reassuring the public that we're not seriously threatened by terrorists, and that we will eventually crush them. Sure made me feel a helluva lot better - you know, like when you just got a refund check from the IRS for a buck and a quarter.  There might be a bit of a silver lining to this dark cloud hanging over us, and it comes from the old saying that if you're not going to lead and can't follow, then get out of the way.  Some of our allies around the world, and some who aren't allies, are now starting to realize that we're not going to commit ourselves to an all out war on terrorism.  Again, don't get me wrong and think I'm advocating that . . . but I am thinking others might well be coming around to the realization that more needs to be done.  We might be reaching a point where our European allies are not going to follow us but rather take the lead.  That's not good for our inflated American ego, but it could happen.

Our flawed policy toward terrorism and the Middle East in general helped create ISIS, just as it has helped create other terrorist groups.  But that's no reason for us to coddle them through some misguided concept, or guilt, thinking it's not nice to kill your own offspring.  We've very much like the wolf in sheep's clothing these days.  We want to present ourselves to the world as sweet little lambs, while in reality we've been the wolves of the world for some time.  My point here is that if you're going to be a wolf, and you're really not fooling anyone, then act like a wolf.

Trump gets lots of attention because he says what a lot of people think, and that should show us how idiotic we are about some things.  He's not wrong about everything, but at least he's not hiding under a sheep skin.  He gives us something to either love, loath, fathom or fear.  We should think about that, and we should think hard on it.  That guy in the Presidency would be a complete disaster.  I almost hate to say it, but I'm a little encouraged about recent events that takes us somewhat out of the picture as the world's great protector against the bad guys.  We've made some mistakes for sure, but I don't think we're the bad guys.  I'm not sure anyone in the world can wear the white hats of a good guy, but we should at least distinguish ourself as being opposed to the evil forces around us.  As various European powers take up the cause, go where we're reluctant to go in regard to the fight against terrorism, I'm encouraged.  Not much, mind you, but some, and some is better than none at all.