The billions of dollars that currently go to police departments across America are NOT contributing to the safety, health and well-being of our citizens. It’s time to re-imagine how we think about “public safety” and “law and order.” As police budgets continue to increase (despite calls to defund the police), Michael Moore shares a proposal for the creation of The Department of Public Safety & Compassion in every town in America. Rather than attempting to solve human problems by sending in men with badges and guns, we need to dismantle this anachronistic armed wing of the patriarchy and have a department that will serve and truly protect the public from the real dangers in our society: hunger, the lack of clean drinking water, mental health needs, insufficient healthcare, opioid addiction, inadequate public schools, etc. What if we had Public Safety officers whose sole job was to aid the homeless, the unemployed, the addicted, the mentally ill? Don’t they deserve to be protected? From us? Won’t every neighborhood be better off if those suffering in a society fueled by greed, racism and inequity were helped rather than jailed, abused and abandoned? Wouldn’t there in fact be less “crime” if we chose to attack the real crimes and the true criminals who’ve created these appalling conditions? Instead of a militarized police state, what if we built a compassionate state staffed by those with love in their hearts and the knowledge of how to provide the actual help people need when they call 911? Defund the police? De-police the police! Every neighborhood deserves better, much better. It’s the 21st century, folks. C’mon.
You can share your ideas for the Department of Public Safety & Compassion with Michael at mike@michaelmoore.com or leave him a voice mail at the link below.
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For a full transcript of this episode, click here.