Al Sharpton, Famed for His Historic Love of Law Enforcement, Calls for Nationalized Police Force

So, Al Sharpton walks up to a microphone in Baltimore and the following words somehow arranged themselves and emerged from his mouth:

Sharpton said, “we need the Justice Department to step in and take over policing in this country. In the 20th century, they had to fight states’ rights in — to get the right to vote. We’re going to have to fight states’ rights in terms of closing down police cases.”

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Insert a Taranto-esque “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA” (or simply “eff off,” if you prefer) here in response to the man who made the words Tawana Brawley and Freddie’s Fashion Mart household names. Meanwhile, Glenn Reynolds explains to USA Today readers why this is a staggeringly bad idea. As the Insta-Professor writes, “Want a lawless police force? Federalize it:”

The third problem with unifying police authority under a national umbrella is that it’s much more prone to political abuse by the party in power. As we’ve seen with the IRS — which, interestingly, shows little interest in frequent White House visitor Al Sharpton’s unpaid taxes — federal bureaucrats are all too willing to serve the interests of their political masters even when doing so violates the law. Putting most law enforcement in the hands of diverse state and local authorities helps limit the potential for abuse. Putting everything under federal control, on the other hand, magnifies it.

Instead, if we’re really serious about increasing law enforcement accountability, we should end civil service protections for federal employees, while outlawing public employee unions. We should also abolish governmental immunity for federal, state, and local employees, forcing them to face civil lawsuits for illegal behavior, just as the rest of us must do.

Instead of centralizing law enforcement, we should promote decentralization, and accountability. Accountability is a good thing. Sharpton should try it some time.

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By the way, remember the good old days when the left hated and demonized Republican attorney generals such as John Mitchell, Ed Meese and John Ashcroft, and looked the other way while their predecessor Robert F. Kennedy wiretapped Martin Luther King? Good times, good times. Now Sharpton wants to give the attorney general even more power — forgetting that it’s all fun and games for the left until the president has an (R) after his name.

 Related: “The NY Times: A Study In Fakery.”

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