As I am sure you are well aware, the state of Georgia is a battleground right now, fighting for two of the last remaining seats in the US Senate.
If they go to Democrats, the Upper House will no longer be firmly in the control of Republicans. Instead, most votes will likely result in a 50-50 tie between the major parties, leaving what is assumed to be vice president-elect Kamala Harris to make the final decision.
Suffice it to say that it doesn’t look too good for the GOP.
That is exactly why so much is going on in the southern Peach State to sway the vote held on January 5.
But beyond losing control of the Senate, what else is at stake here?
Well, according to several Georgia sheriffs, a liberally led senate could make defunding the police possible on a national or federal level and that would lead to disaster for all.
As you well know, there has been a movement to already defund the police that is near national. Cities everywhere have begun to re-evaluate what policing and law enforcement means, what it should look like, and how much money should be required to do what is needed.
For far too many, or at least those in Democratically held congressional districts, police departments are being downsized drastically, funding is being cut, and officer’s hands are pretty much being tied behind their backs.
And, as a result, crime is spiking.
But those making these decisions don’t seem to be connecting the dots between the rise in crime and the decrease in police abilities – those like Democratic GA senate candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
Now, of course, thanks to Biden’s pleas to the left to stop talking about defunding the police over fears that it could hurt their chances of taking over the Senate, both candidates have sworn that if anything they are against “defunding the police.”
However, as proved by the GA sheriffs, a closer look at these statements says exactly the opposite.
Sheriff Butch Conway said in a press conference on Tuesday, “All we have heard for months from the Democratic Party is ‘defund the police.’ I understand Joe Biden is talking the other way now not wanting to talk about ‘defunding the police’ until after this election. But that doesn’t change anything. You’ve got Reverend Warnock who doesn’t respect police. He’s called us ‘thugs.’ I take that as a personal affront because I don’t know any thug police officers.”
Now FactCheck.org will tell you that Warnock only called some police officers thugs, just like he said that he is against defunding the police. But listen to the rest of his message.
“I do not believe that we should defund the police. I do believe that we should responsibly fund law enforcement. We need to reimagine policing and reimagine the relationships between law enforcement and communities. We certainly need to demilitarize the police, so that we can rebuild trust between the police and the community.”
Ossoff made similar statements, citing that he was “opposed to defunding the police. And quite frankly, it’s a counterproductive and foolish way of characterizing what I think for some folds is a desire to reform the police.”
However, he went on to agree with Warnock about “demilitarizing” the police and the need to have “national standards for use of force, and yeah, you’ve got to be able to hold individual officers and entire departments accountable.”
So no, we don’t necessarily need to cut funding, but we need to make use of force non-existent, demilitarize police everywhere, and “reimagine policing?”
Sounds a little fishy, wouldn’t you say?
Plus, as I mentioned before, they are being told to say stuff like this, to be mum on the defunding part, at least for now.
But after the election, and they have successfully taken control of our government? What’s to stop them from doing a lot more than just talking about it then? Nothing.
But as Sheriff Frank Reynold of Cherokee County, Georgia, explained, that’s not what America needs. “We don’t need to defund law enforcement. We need to fund it more. We need to hire the best.”