The True Color of Republicans

In a recent weekly newsletter published by the chair of the Republican Party here in Vermont, Deb Billado, while lamenting the fact that a 30% “Defund the Police” reduction in the Burlington Police Department had accompanied a spike in assaults, theft, and shootings, she had this to remark:

“In fact, the situation has gotten so bad that businesses in Burlington have had to fund a non-governmental ‘safety escort program’ to secure workers leaving their jobs.

“So, to be clear, the rise in violent activities following the sharp cuts in police budgets has led to a need for greater privately-funded security. Is this really what the ‘defund the police’ crowd had in mind?  These progressive policies have led to an almost libertarian form of governing where police powers, which used to be a government monopoly, are now being privatized.”

Well!  Sounds like, in spite of their overtly Marxist intentions, the leftist “Defund the Police” crowd on the Burlington City Council have inadvertently sparked something advocates of government-reduction and free markets should be only too happy to encourage! Is Deb enthusiastic about the possibilities presented by this obvious foible of the socialists?  Let’s see, as she continues her commentary:

“This is precisely what happens when failed liberal policies come to fruition. We’re all left to deal with the unintended consequences–which, in this case, are dire.

“Sooner or later, the Burlington City Council will be forced to reverse course and add additional officers to their police force. In the interim, we can’t allow this to happen in other cities and towns across Vermont. It’s up to us to point out that defunding the police has been a failed experiment; one that cannot and should not be replicated in other Vermont communities.”

Let’s set aside for the moment the misnomer that leftists or socialists are in any way “liberal.” This particular “failed” government policy – while by no means intentionally orchestrated by the neo-communist who sit on the Burlington City Council — has opened the door to a libertarian solution. Deb doesn’t like this. She wants to repair back to and restore the old socialist, tax-financed government monopoly immediately. In fact, she sees it as imminent and inevitable.  Unavoidable.  No other solution or reform – even one based on freedom and free-enterprise – is in any way acceptable.

And she concludes:

“It is up to us to make sure that this problem does not spread to other communities. Otherwise, before we know it, it will be too late.”

It is well enough, perhaps, that in the color-codification increasingly employed by corporate media over the last couple of decades or so, Republican regions are called “red states.”

For insofar as I can observe, in spite of all false rhetoric to the contrary, that’s precisely what they are.  Just like their “blue” alleged opponents.