I've just returned from a funeral home to pay my respects to the
widow of a young Texas State Trooper. A nut killed him because the
trooper stopped him for driving without a seatbelt. His murderer, who
has admitted shooting the trooper in the head with an AK-47, is an
anti-government fanatic who believes that he can do whatever he wants to
do. Because he didn't want to wear a seatbelt, a 28-year-old law
enforcement officer is dead, his wife is a widow and their 8-month-old
baby will never know his
father.
My friends, we live in the most free country in the world. One
reason we are a free people is that brave men and women risk their lives
every minute of every day so that we can do what we want in safety. Yet
some Americans now regularly call our law enforcement officers
"jack-booted-thugs." To call them names is an insult to all of the
decent people who truly do protect and serve. To compare them to Nazis
is to defame the memories of the thousands of law enforcement men and
women who have died so that we can be safe.
Unfortunately, a small, but vocal minority is trying to depersonalize
our law enforcement officers and turn them into things. They know that
once you turn someone into a thing, you strip them of their humanity.
Then, you can do whatever you want to them. What I can't figure out is
how it will benefit America if we turn our law enforcement officers into
objects of contempt.
Think about what our law enforcement people do on a daily basis.
They go places where most of us won't go. They deal with problems that
most of us want to ignore. They have "face time" with some of the
meanest humans on the face of the earth. We ask them to stop husbands
from killing their wives and children from killing their parents. They
see more blood and gore than most doctors, and have more opportunities
to sell out to drug dealers than you can imagine. To top things off,
the manager of a local Dominos Pizza joint makes more than many police
chiefs.
In spite of all of that, we still get bright young men and women who
want to serve and protect. In spite of all that they see and all of the
anti-government abuse thrown out, when they stop us for a traffic
violation, we reach for our wallets to get our driver's license, not
money for a bribe. That's not the way it is in most of the world. And
if we continue to dehumanize our law enforcement officers, we will
eventually get the corrupt, "legal" system of a fifth rate third world
country.
It is one thing to want to rein in a government out of control.
Let's not stop that crusade. However, if we allow people to demonize
all those who protect us from evil, we will create the conditions for
our nightmares to become true. Because if good people no longer want to
become cops, guess what types of cops we will get?
It is time for us to acknowledge that everyone who works for a
government paycheck is a human being. It is time to remember that the
overwhelming majority of them are decent, salt-of-the-earth people who
are our neighbors and friends. Yes, some government workers are bad
apples. Just as there are bad priests, doctors, lawyers, politicians,
teachers and business people also.
That's the price we pay for being humans. That's part of God's
bargain with us. He has shown us the way to salvation, but we have to
choose. That some choose to do evil doesn't mean that all are evil.
When government officials do bad things, let's hold them accountable
for their actions. However, let's not throw the whole system out.
Otherwise, we will create an environment where the only people who will
work for the government will be bad ... and that won't be good for
anyone.
Let us celebrate the sacrifice of that young trooper and the millions
of other Americans who put their lives on the line to protect our
freedom and safety. When they put on their uniform, bullet resistant
vest and strap on their side arm, they truly do mean to serve and
protect.
If we ever forget that, the young trooper's death, and the deaths of
all who died in the name of our freedom, would have been in vain.