That old Mandate of Heaven thing. If the cops treat everyone like the enemy, can they be surprised when everyone who is paying attention considers THEM the enemy?

A year and a half ago, I gave a speech in Temple TX addressed to the law enforcement officers of the United States entitled "Losing the Mandate of Heaven."

Here is the link to the speech. At the time I said:

This country faces many threats and challenges and the police like to tell us that they are the "thin blue line" protecting us from the evil bad guys. But if you read police magazines these days, you will find much about police tactical teams adopting a "warrior ethos." Well, that begs the question -- with whom are they at war? Law-abiding citizens exercising their natural, God-given and inalienable rights, no matter how "rudely"? Now let me show you who some members of law enforcement think is the enemy -- who they train daily to engage until, like all training, it becomes unthinking and automatic.

This is a target used by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. Look familiar? It ought to. This fellow looks like all of you out there. And the New Mexico people are not the only ones who use targets like this. This is who so-called "law enforcement" now considers to be the enemy. . . Their enemy, my friends, is YOU. It is US. It is the armed citizenry of the United States.

So I say to these members of law enforcement, all of whom took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States -- What makes you think that the orders of corrupt politicians trump that oath? What makes you think that our rights are hostage to the anti-firearm neuroses of our neighbors? What part of "Shall Not Be Infringed" don't you understand?

And given that, given that you now seem to regard US as the enemy of all police, why then should we not regard YOU as illegitimate? You've delegitimized yourselves. Why then should we regard you -- if we are your enemy -- why should we not consider you OUR enemy? How, then, will you react, Mr. Policeman, when you begin to see targets like this with uniformed police officers on them? Can you give us a good reason why we shouldn't return the favor?

This is unpleasant stuff. This is dangerous stuff. BUT THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A REGIME DELEGITIMIZES ITSELF! This is what happens when a regime throws away the Mandate of Heaven.

David Codrea sends this link, "Black mug shot police targets show double standard of silhouette exemptions," along with this comment:

So let me get this straight -- these guys are shooting at photos of real black people while "lawmakers" want to ban us mere mundanes from using silhouette targets -- and they couldn't have picked a worse time to do something so inflammatory. Oh well, I guess it won't be their businesses they stand by and watch burn from the reactions they provoke.

From his column:

The North Miami Beach Police sniper team using mug shots of African American men as targets has elicited an angry response from an Army National Guard Sergeant, who saw her brother’s picture being used when she went to the same range for annual firearms qualification, South Florida’s NBC 6 reported Friday. While Police Chief J. Scott Dennis says his men “could have used better judgment,” he denies that racial profiling was involved.

Indeed. The question remains -- If the cops treat everyone like the enemy, can they be surprised when everyone who is paying attention considers THEM the enemy?