That’s been a bumper sticker with a twist, from Mexico to Argentina, for decades.
Right on, Karen, we are about to join the rest of the continent in our method of paying those who “serve and protect” us.
In Mexico, they just demand bribes (“hagamos una cosa!”). In Argentina, the police merely stop you at a random roadblock and insist that you donate a few bucks to their ‘charitable” cause of the day. All smiles, of course, and “contributions” had best be made with alacrity. (In Mexico, many “police” do not even collect a salary. They are simply given a badge, a gun, and a beat. The rest is up to them.The gangs pay very well, and, for those who don’t go along, there’s always beheading or the barrel of lye to send them a message.)
We should remember that, the less we trust government, the less the government will trust us. And act accordingly.
9:20 am on February 11, 2009