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| RUSSIAN TANKS... |
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| THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION, 1956 |
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| EVEN SMALL AMERICAN TOWNS ARE RECEIVING MILITARY WEAPONS |
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| DO WE REALLY WANT BARNEY DRIVING AN EMRAP? |
The scenes of heavily armed police with armored equipment confronting rioters in Ferguson, MO, was a more than disturbing sight. Protests should be peaceful, of course, but confronting any of our citizens with the actual machines of warfare is untenable, to say the least. If riots get out of hand the Guard should be called in to quell them, thus maintaining the distinction between civilian police and the military.
I remember the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet occupiers in 1956 and the photos of unarmed youths, who were my own age, confronting tanks. It was chilling then, and is more so now, that it is literally happening in our own land.
Back in those days we often got in minor trouble with the cops, and you weren't confronted with a gun or an arrest warrant. You were given a swift kick in the pants and if necessary a cuff alongside the head and sent home, where you were sure to get the same from your parents.
Remember the Andy Griffith show, with Andy as Mayberry Sheriff and Barney as Deputy? Barney had an empty gun in his holster and one bullet, which he kept in his shirt pocket. It was a comedy show of course, but not all that unbelievable for a small town like Mayberry, USA.
Certainly times have changed, and we have all lost our innocence, but do we really wish to continue down this gruesome path? Why don't we send the excess military weaponry to the Ukrainians, who will soon be confronting Russian tanks with Molotov cocktails? We have lost our way, and perhaps our freedom.
Andy and Barney, where are you, now that we need you?
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