Sunday, November 29, 2015

Can a Cop Ever Be a Good Guy?



The following  email exchange took place between Dr. Walter Block and James Waldrop:
 James Waldrop:[G]oing back to my question on police shootings, what would be your
response to somebody who would criticise you for "defending the state," so
to speak, in the Mike Brown situation?

Dr. Walter Block

 Dear James:

 I would say that they are deifying the government. If a cop stops a rape
 or murder, he is a good guy, although, of course, the manner in which his
 salary is financed, through coercion, is illicit.
 RW

15 comments:

  1. Ancaps demonize the government. It's not a religious thing. It's a social institution.

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    1. We don't have to demonize the government Wags, they do a right good job demonizing themselves. We just point it out to the ones who do worship the State as a religion.

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  2. A cop can do a good thing like stopping a rape, but he cannot be a good guy given he has chosen a line of work in which his job description is to commit numerous acts of aggression on a daily basis. It does not matter how many good deeds he happens to do along the way when his full time job is committing and supporting evil acts forcibly depriving innocent people of their freedom and property.

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    1. Yes and this means that Block has dementia. Almost all cops violate the NAP daily and therefore they are criminals.

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  3. According to libertarian code, Darren Wilson is a criminal because he is a cop. Wilson initiated threats against Michael Brown. Brown proceeded to defend himself from a known criminal with a weapon who was issuing commands at him. Libertarian analysis - Brown innocent / Wilson murderer.

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    1. No, that's not the libertarian code. The two actions: First, Wilson stealing from the taxpayers, and Second, Wilson stopping a suspected criminal, are two separate actions to be analyzed independently.

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    2. Wilson is a criminal not because he is stealing from taxpayers, but because as a cop he enforces unlibertarian laws on a daily basis. As a criminal, he has no right to act as a security provider and stop a person who is a suspected criminal.

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  4. A good cop? I have my doubts. A good guy? Yes.

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  5. I'm in the Robert Higgs camp there is no such thing as a good cop given that they "work" for a system that itself is built on theft. Their good deeds are the equivalent to when a mobster or a gang banger does a good deed, yeah the deed itself may be good but they're still a thug.

    If not that, then the "good" cops, the ones who actually expose fraud, corruption and the lies are quickly gotten rid of.

    http://thefreethoughtproject.com/colorado-prosecutors-police-whistleblowers/#KdhRsstodyfDFImx.99

    Funny how conservative badge lickers are silent when cops expose corruption but then claim they want to root out government corruption.

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  6. Additionally, there are no good cops because the "good" ones never weed out the "bad" ones.

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  7. The fundamental problem in this discussion is no one has defined "good guy." Each party with their own subjective, private definition, is talking past the other. For example, if a cop stops a murder yet busts a drug dealer, is he a good or bad guy? Ans.: depends on your definition.

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  8. They're all valid points ( in the comments and from Walter Block ), but I think it's worth noting that the conclusion could change if we just took out "Cop" as the identifier.

    "If an individual stops a rape or a murder, he's a good guy"

    If said individual turns around and frames you for a crime, he's a bad guy.

    If an individual forcibly takes from you or I to perform either of these activities, then he doesn't have much of a righteous leg to stand on. Robin Hood may be feeding the poor, but he's stealing from someone else to do it.

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  9. Shout out to you, Dr. Edelstein, and your insightful school of thought and apt comment here.

    Yes, "good guy" is in the eye of the beholder and can sometimes be difficult to assess given people exhibit complex mixes of behaviors not to mention different values.

    Since the OP was directing his question to Mr. Thin Libertarian, Walter Block, I would presume corresponding libertarian values to apply here and so would define "good guy" to mean "non-aggressive toward persons and property" as a rule.

    Whatever his good deeds, a cop is systematically aggressive toward persons and property, so fails to meet a libertarian standard for "good guy," in my opinion.

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    1. This is not just your opinion. What you are saying is completely consistent with the NAP. You are logically consistent and correct.

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