So Much for the Rule of Law

The Republican Party has long boasted of being the “party of law and order.”

They always excuse the extrajudicial killing of minorities:

· “If they had complied with the police, they would still be alive.”

· “He/she was a criminal. The police were just doing their job.”

· “If we don’t let the police enforce the law, people will get away with anything.”

They are firm believers in administering capital punishment:

· “The punishment should fit the crime.”

· “Capital punishment is biblical.”

· “Some criminals don’t deserve to live.”

They love their pro-police slogans:

· “Back the Blue.”

· “Some heroes wear capes. Mine wear Kevlar.”

· “You have a choice: Support Your Police or Support Your Thieves.”

This copious support for law enforcement was forgotten on January 6, 2021, when a riotous insurrection occurred at the US Capitol, leading to the death of Officer Brian Sicknick, 138 officers injured, some of whom suffered traumatic brain injuries, and the subsequent suicides of four police officers who suffered PTSD as a result of the attack.

The Republican president, reelected despite being the chief instigator of the rebellion, has pardoned about 1,500 insurrectionists.

These pardons included insurrectionists who were convicted of violent offenses and attacks on police officers.

His comments:

"These are the hostages, approximately 1,500 for a pardon, full pardon. This is a big one."

"These people have been destroyed. What they've done to these people is outrageous. There's rarely been anything like it in the history of our country."

It is beyond repugnant to refer to people who stormed the Capitol, defecated in it, and killed and injured police officers as “hostages.”

He says that the insurrectionists have “been destroyed.”

What about the lives of police officers lost and permanently altered by these innocents?

He and his followers are quick to blame crime on immigrants, illegal and otherwise, but when homegrown White people storm government buildings, they are characterized as innocent victims.

What the president and his party are saying to the American people is very clear.

White people who commit treason in his name are automatically “innocent” of any crime.

Meanwhile, Black and Brown people are guilty of crimes because they weren’t born here.

One minute, the GOP is the party of law and order.

The next minute, they are chanting “F--- The Blue.”

Many say that the president’s supporters must be placated and approached with reason and logic because it is counterproductive and politically unsound to do otherwise.

How does one reason with people who attack government buildings and injure and kill police officers?

It is an inconvenient truth that a Black and Brown mob attacking the Capitol would have been met with widespread deadly force that would have been characterized as appropriate and justifiable.

This administration’s hypocrisy would be laughable if it did not tear at the foundations of a just and orderly society.

We cannot expect decent, prudent law enforcement officers to feel supported when they are attacked by a mob only to watch in horror as mob members are freed by presidential pardon.

We cannot expect law abiding Black and Brown people to feel safe in a country where riotous Whites are judged innocent, while Black and Brown people are guilty regardless of their actions.

In the end, a society that has two standards of law enforcement won’t have two standards of law.

It will not have law at all.