Government, especially limited government in a free society, has a core purpose: to protect and defend the rights of its citizens. From within and from without. Unless you’re an anarcho-capitalistic parents’-house-cellar-dweller, or a socialistic/fascistic thug, this should be as uncontroversial statement as exists in politics.
There is devil in the details, of course, but the mission itself remains unarguable.
A spate of anti-Semitic assaults committed in New York City in recent weeks serves to remind us of this mission, and illuminates not only government’s failure in serving this core mission, but on governmental actions that work against it.
Criminal justice reform has been of growing interest to both major parties in recent years. Credit the libertarians, regular and “unleaded” (aka, the ‘civil libertarians’ who pick and choose which rights and liberties they like – and they don’t like gun rights), for pressing this issue. Victimless crime laws, mandatory minimums, three-strikes laws, and policing-for-profit have turned the “land of the free” into one of the biggest incarcerators in the world, and almost daily, we read examples of too-harsh punishments and injustices.
Trust government, however, to screw things up no matter what, though. We witness this in New York, where the city and state instituted major changes to the bail rules, changes that are putting many charged with violence on the street, with multiple instances of repeat offense. We witness this in a blind eye being turned to lower-level offenses that do not qualify as victimless crimes, including fare-jumping and public urination. We witness this in the horrible mis-management of the mentally-ill homeless, who not only impose a massive financial burden on local governments, but are an increasing menace to citizens going about their daily lives.
Citizens’ ability to go about their daily lives without fear of harm should be high on any government’s list of priorities. This is often reduced by progressive activists to minority communities’ interactions with police, however. While there’s certainly merit to that matter, ignoring everyone else or – worse – actually accommodating some who violate norms or commit violence against others out of some social justice “payback” is a dereliction of duty.
With predictable results.
Mayor De Blasio attempted to blame the torrent of attacks against Jews in the city on Trump, as if Trump, who defied the Best-and-Brightest by moving America’s embassy to Jerusalem, who has a Jewish daughter and son-in-law, and who, as a New York businessman, has spent his life interacting and doing business with Jews, is somehow an anti-Semite. De Blasio then, in a stunning display of chutzpah, pleaded for Trump’s help with the homeless problem (a problem that he’s already thrown a billion dollars at, with his wife spearheading an organization of gross ineffectiveness and waste).
Now, De Blasio is finally reacting, standing for photo-ops with Jewish leaders, and spouting canned pap at news conferences. Time will tell whether he and his get some traction on the problem, but it’s hard not to conclude that the wrong sort of permissiveness, coupled with his laziness and disinterest in serving a core mission, are the proximate cause of these attacks.
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