This feels more like “M4A is good but we can’t pass it yet but we can shift public policy to the left right now so let’s do it.” Tough analogy cause the existing healthcare system is probably better than the existing criminal justice system and policing, which is one hell of a sentence. But this is kind of like doing the ACA, but maybe with the public option.
The thing is, it’s progress and if/when it doesn’t work we’re all going to be just as mad again.
Yeah I mean there are a lot of people here who genuinely want zero police, they don’t want to abolish and replace, they just want to abolish. Others want to replace with something better, which is great in the utopian timeline where we can actually achieve that.
I think anyone watching social media at this point who’s not an asshole would take starting from scratch with a new model over what we’ve got, but I don’t know if people realize the litany of challenges that presents.
I mean even forget the politics, at this point it’d be like going to a mob boss and saying “We’ve decided your entire organization is out, we’re going to replace you with a non-violent cartel from Canada. Have a good weekend, see you at brunch Sunday?”
I’ve got pro police mobs of white men with bats roaming five blocks away this week. I’ve got white dudes with AR-15s walking around like they’re patrolling a war zone. Who wants to go tell them that we’re abolishing the police? Who wants to go tell the dude making 150K/yr living in the burbs who’s a registered Dem who votes party line and see how fast he becomes a Trumper?