Wednesday, September 10, 2014

All Hail the Police State, Part 19

I've been slacking at keeping up with my blogging, but news I say today couldn't be ignored.  I've often commented on the militarization of police in this country and I always back that up with hard numbers and examples.  Today we have an article in USA Today showing just how much money the federal government is putting into militarizing local police departments.

It's more than 1 billion dollars.  Every year.

Take a moment and marvel at that.  Think of all the times some politician says there isn't enough money to fund highway repair or social programs or education endeavors.  How many school lunches could we provide with a billion dollars?  How many miles of highway could be poured for that?  How many potholes fixed?

Of course, that number pales in comparison to the 1 trillion dollars spent on the NSA this year.  Take this to heart, when you stamp a D or R on your ballot, you are supporting politicians that spend your tax money oppressing you, rather than supporting you.  There are a few exceptions, but 95% of the Democrats and Republicans are supporting programs like this, while telling you there isn't any money to support programs and infrastructure in your local community. 

There is an election coming up, please be thoughtful about who you give your vote to.