EE PatronJun 16th 2020, 5:13:13
For the record, it doesn't matter to me what color the person a cop kills is, I don't want cops killing people period. I'm aware of the statistics, been profiled for looking like a dirty hippy in my early 20s, and as I've said here, ive been tear gassed, pepper sprayed, harrassed, shot with rubber bullets, etc. Again I dont think that's a black and white or a right and left issue.
Secondly, there's a correlation between community resources, investment in the arts, human services and crime rate. It's just a fact. The places with the most police are never the safest period. It's always always always about the conditions people grow up in.
The problem with conservatives doesn't run as deep as the union loving democrats, but traditionally any sector under a Republican is in danger. The goal is traditionally tax cuts tax cuts tax cuts. Traditionally these cuts are carried out on the arts, behavioral health, social services etc. It's never like any conservative is shuffling the budget to provide increases for behavioral health and education here.
Essentially one party cuts funding to behavioral health and education, and the other party dumps a bunch of funding into the FOP and teacher unions. I suppose you can pick your poison on that but to me it's a bit like choosing between poison and a live hand grenade. The safety on the streets continue to erode in either scenario.
What I've typically advocated for is Grant's that provide books to area children, adult literacy, and increased behavioral health facilities. At the current budget for our book program we won in FY2020 for example, we provide education materials to 11,000 disadvantaged children per year. That's sort of what you're looking for in doing some small good with a small amount of money every year. If you can win a hundredth of one percent of the budget for something like that you feel like you've achieved something and it was worth getting shot at.
Obviously this year is not about winning these small battles for homeless vets or children or something. It's grown to the point that one could hope you win a bit more, but I guess we'll see how it works out.
Secondly, there's a correlation between community resources, investment in the arts, human services and crime rate. It's just a fact. The places with the most police are never the safest period. It's always always always about the conditions people grow up in.
The problem with conservatives doesn't run as deep as the union loving democrats, but traditionally any sector under a Republican is in danger. The goal is traditionally tax cuts tax cuts tax cuts. Traditionally these cuts are carried out on the arts, behavioral health, social services etc. It's never like any conservative is shuffling the budget to provide increases for behavioral health and education here.
Essentially one party cuts funding to behavioral health and education, and the other party dumps a bunch of funding into the FOP and teacher unions. I suppose you can pick your poison on that but to me it's a bit like choosing between poison and a live hand grenade. The safety on the streets continue to erode in either scenario.
What I've typically advocated for is Grant's that provide books to area children, adult literacy, and increased behavioral health facilities. At the current budget for our book program we won in FY2020 for example, we provide education materials to 11,000 disadvantaged children per year. That's sort of what you're looking for in doing some small good with a small amount of money every year. If you can win a hundredth of one percent of the budget for something like that you feel like you've achieved something and it was worth getting shot at.
Obviously this year is not about winning these small battles for homeless vets or children or something. It's grown to the point that one could hope you win a bit more, but I guess we'll see how it works out.