Thomas Sowell on the "Utter madness" of calls to de-fund the police

It is absolutely right to ensure that in a democratic society policing must be carried out with the consent of the policed, that the police are not above the law and must be accountable, and that every society must be policed fairly and equitably.

So those who protested about the death of George Floyd in the USA and sadly, other cases had some very valid points to make.

What were not valid, however, were calls, in the USA or on this side of the pond,  to "Defund the Police."

There is a good interview here - yes, it's on Fox News but even they occasionally get something right -  in which American economist Thomas Sowell describes such calls as "utter madness."

        (Thomas Sowell)

He is quoted as saying,

"Well, I must say, even though I'm regarded as pessimistic, I was never pessimistic enough to think that things would generate to the point where they are now.

We are adult human beings talking about getting rid of the police, where they're talking about reducing the number of police, reducing the resources put into police work at a time when murder rates have been skyrocketing over what they were just a year ago in 2019.

I never dreamed we'd come to this point. It just seems such utter madness, and what is frightening is how many people in responsible positions are caving in to every demand that is made, repeating any kind of nonsense that you're supposed to repeat.

I do believe that we may well be -- we may well reach a point of no return. I hope that of course, that will never happen. But there is such a thing as a point of no return.

The Roman Empire overcame and many problems in its long history, but eventually it reached the point where it simply could no longer continue on.

And much of that was from within not just the Barbarians attacking from outside."

Quite.