Demonstrations are NOT Discussions, Protests are NOT Probitive, and Repression is NOT Restorative

It's been a week since the ugly confrontations in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights between pro-police types and their political allies,  and #BLM types and their allies  ---  so far nothing good has come of it, but a lot of bad has.....

In our present polity, a chasm now separates Democrats from Republicans, and conservatives from old line liberals and contemporary progressives  ---  radicals have been the beneficiaries;  and they are emergent

None of this has helped the community at large  ---  nor is it likely to do so

None of this helped the police in the performance of their necessary duties and functions  ---  nor is it likely to do so

Marty Golden's demagoguery of one week past contained assertions that struck me as being more akin to Mayor de Blasio's proposals for future NYPD funding than I would have thought possible.....   I particularly refer to a portion of the now-rejected State Senator's hectoring of the crowd near the 68th Precinct house,  wherein Golden,  who was masked like the bandit that he is, listed a series of recognizable and essential institutions within the Precinct and throughout the city as a whole.  With every mention of a revered and necessary vehicle of public service, the crowd shouted,  "NYPD !!!"   

There's no need to quibble about the the intentions of the silver haired bandito,  what his words and the repeated responses of the crowd of NYPD supporters revealed were some of the places from which past police funding had been diverted over the last couple of decades  ---  often at the urging of first Councilman and later State Senator Martin Golden.

In any case,  Marty Golden's list would be a good place to target the one billion dollars that some maintain is being "defunded"  from the NYPD.  At very least it should be part of the discussion.

As for the efficacy of the pro-police demonstrations  ---  look at the neighborhoods that are now pushing back against the conduct of more demonstrations in or around their borders.....  It's quite interesting that the delay of the Marine Park demonstration was attributed to its being too hot to proceed..... "Interesting," but of no consequence,  because such demonstrations are not proof of anything material or relevant to anything or in any way.

Underlying all of this posturing by the likes of Marty Golden, and this year's GOP candidates Nicole Malliotakis and Vito Bruno is the presumption that repression of the perceived anti-police activists is the way to go. Unfortunately, that ignores the lessons of history  ---  in particular, the lessons of the French and Russian Revolutions;  or the antipodal reactive German revolution that brought the Nazi's to power.....  

In each instance, the failed old order attempted repression and only added to the strength of the various forces of the revolution. And ultimately, that led to the even greater onslaught against the social order  ---  the revolution inside the revolution,  which is the true destroyer of things past  the cultural revolution.

Instead, look at those moments in U.S., British and French history where social unrest led to accommodations and reforms that repeatedly recreated each of those countries and brought them into the modern world.  That is the part of "nation building" that is too often ignored  --- the need for constant renewal and renovation  ---  that is how our local communities and the nation as a whole will be restored.