The verdict for this episode is: we must strike at capitalism first.

Loose Transcript

Hello, and welcome to Jonathan's Verdicts. I'm Jonathan Simeone

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The title of this episode is: capitalism needs brutal policing.
The verdict for this episode is:
wee must strike at capitalism first.

As always, I don't edit these podcast episodes, and I don't have a script.
They are just a chance for me to talk about whatever is on my mind.

We will soon, or already do have more police on the streets than we did the day George Floyd was murdered.
The months of nationwide protests did not result in the defunding of police.
They did not result in abolishing police.
They did not even result in any meaningful police reform. Sadly, they accomplished nothing.
And now we are at a point where in response to the protesting
and in response to escalated violence
many communities have more police on the streets than they did the day Mr Floyd was murdered.
And the sad part of this is it was all very predictable.

And the reason is very simple:
the biggest driver of crime,
as anyone who thinks about this stuff
honestly and intelligently knows, is desperation and lack of opportunity.
People are desperate.
People are hungry.
People are being evicted. Record numbers of people are relying on food banks for meals.
Sure, there will always be crime legitimate, horrific crime.
But the truth is that most crime would be eliminated if every person had a decent place to live, a decent income, felt like they truly had opportunity to advance in life, and that their children had fair, equitable opportunity to advance in life.

But capitalism is diametrically opposed to equity and equality. Capitalism cannot survive without people to exploit. Capitalism cannot survive without cultural division. So capitalism needs brutal policing.
Because the truth is capitalism can only deter and punish.

It cannot provide.

And so, when some communities did remove a fraction of money from the police,
without a real effort to invest in community,
without an effort to provide the American people the basic necessities of life,
there was always going to be an increase in crime.

The capitalist class was always going to use that increase in crime to scare people, to foment division,
and to further indoctrinate racism.
And yes, to hire more police

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You see, we can't defund police, we can't abolish the current form of policing without actually investing in communities and providing opportunities. Capitalism will not allow for those things. This country will never do those things.

Capitalism needs brutal policing.

As a result, America now has more police and nothing has been done to rein in the racism and the brutality that are hallmarks of policing.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Jonathan's Verdicts. I very much appreciate your support.