Many years ago I heard Jimmy Walker of Good Times fame say that poverty doesn’t cause crime, crime causes poverty. There are many poor persons in the United States and around the world who do not turn to a life of crime simply because they are poor. They respect others, their property and understand that it is wrong to violate others simply because of the circumstances they find themselves in.
Being poor doesn’t make a person commit murder. Being poor doesn’t make a person do drugs, especially since doing drugs is such an expensive habit. Being poor doesn’t make a person steal or destroy the property of others. Being poor doesn’t make a person ignore the humanity of others. Those who claim poverty makes them commit crimes or self-destructive acts are simply copping out, because it is just as easy to decide not to commit these acts as it is to decide to do them. Free will always rules.
In order for a community to survive financially and otherwise it is essential for businesses and other institutions to have a welcoming and safe atmosphere in which to flourish. Those who choose to open a business that will not only provide jobs to the locals, but also creates a way for the locals to fulfill their daily needs, do so out of free will. Being able to walk across the street to the grocery store is very important to many as we have seen expressed by those who saw their local businesses burned to the ground during the recent and ongoing lunacy.
Politicians are all the time saying they are going to pass job creating legislation. Well here’s the bad news. The government can’t pass legislation and then jobs magically appear. That is a good political soundbite, and it may garner a few votes, but job creation doesn’t work that way. That only occurs in a market of free exchange that develops into a system that fulfills the needs of the locals. It takes time to develop that system, and an unwelcoming or unsafe atmosphere will cause the local system to never reach its full potential, and if that system is destroyed once established, it will never come back as it was. The lives of the locals will forever be changed for the worst.
This brings us to the purpose of this post, which is the insanity of leftists who are demanding that the police be abolished. Any government that eliminates the police department will be saying to businesses and other institutions that are essential to a vibrant and bustling local economy that they need not apply. Businesses are the personal property of the owners, they are not community property, and they choose where to setup shop. Eliminating the police would be a message to all citizens and property owners that their property and persons are not important enough to protect, and it will cause a massive exodus of citizens, investment, and tax base that will destroy the local economy. As the old saying goes, don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.