The Syndrome syndrome of political crises

In the animated movie "The Incredibles" the villain of the story (Syndrome) engaged in a diabolical effort to become the most powerful superhero in order to exploit his own fame and superiority. But in order for Syndrome's plan to succeed, he had to convince people that he was the answer to a problem that they didn't know they had. So before Syndrome could become the answer to the worlds woes, he had to create a woe that only he could answer.

After making sure that any superheroes that could thwart his evil plot had been eliminated Syndrome released his giant robot on Metroville and then swooped in to save the day, only to be bested by his own creation. Fortunately a family of superheroes (the Incredibles) had survived Syndrome's attempts to eliminate them and they teamed up with Frozone to save Metroville. And they lived happily ever after.

In the real world, the American left has become incredibly adept at becoming the answer to woes that don't exist - and then creating those woes in the minds of the American public. Having a compliant propaganda machine in the U.S. media is certainly a big help, but it is an impressive achievement nonetheless. It's not a simple thing to take the best healthcare system in the world, a system that over 80% of Americans were happy with, and convince large numbers of people that it is ineffective and in urgent need of a total rehab. One day we don't know that a war on women even exists. The next day civilization as we know it will abruptly halt if the nation doesn't subsidize $10/month in birth control for ivy league college women. Of course catastrophic climate change is going to send us all to sleep with the dinosaurs any minute now if we don't do something to stop the planet's cooling, or warming...or cooling...or weather.

When conservatives see some if these antics they commonly respond by shaking their heads at such nonsense and wonder how stupid "they" think we are. Nobody could take Sandra Fluke seriously,...right? It's long past time to stop the head shaking and get serious about taking these people seriously. The megaphone that they wield through the compliant media is enormous. And that megaphone is now pointed directly at local law enforcement throughout the United States. Almost from day one Obama has made it clear that local law enforcement is broken and in need of federal help:

• Following the arrest of Louis Gates, Barack Obama said that the "Cambridge police acted stupidly", and we shook our heads because the situation obviously had nothing to do with race or bungling by the arresting officer.
• Obama suggested reforms to include Justice Department training for all state and local law enforcement in the wake of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin incident.
• After the Grand Jury failed to produce an indictment of Officer Wilson in Ferguson Missouri Obama flatly stated "I'm being pretty explicit about the fact that this is a systemic problem,". Though no wrong doing was ever determined on the part of Wilson, the Obama Justice Dept. put the entire Ferguson police department under the microscope to look for evidence of that "systemic problem".
• Following the Eric Garner choking death in New York Obama stated that "Too many Americans feel deep unfairness when it comes to the gap between our professed ideals and how laws are applied on a day-to-day basis. I intend to take more steps with leaders like [Mr De Blasio] in the months ahead." Clearly indicating that this will be an on-going area of focus for the administration. And of course there was another Justice Department investigation.
• And of course Boston is the latest tinder box to exploit for the cause. CNN helpfully identified the incident as part of a national problem.

Obviously this isn't an exhaustive list. But it's easy to overlook the fact that the Obama administration has had a consistent habit of putting a negative light on local law enforcement from the very beginning. The Cambridge incident seemed completely irrational back in 2009. There was a lot of incredulity and head shaking at the time because it was reasonably obvious that the cop was simply doing his job. When there are repeated incongruities between the narrative and the reality of a situation, it's usually a good idea to question what is really going on. Consistent public reactions of Presidential administrations are typically intent driven. Enough of the web has been weaved that we can see the shape it is taking. "Hands up don't shoot" may have been a lie, but these incidents don't have to show real injustice, or real abuse by local law enforcement. They simply have to provide convenient anchor points for the web of an agenda.

That agenda is to increase federal influence over local law enforcement. To what degree remains to be seen. Some are now calling for outright nationalization of local police. These are the extreme voices that make it a "reasonable" compromise to settle for something less, and let Republicans make claims that they didn't surrender everything. The crisis that we didn't know that we have is that local law enforcement is systemically broken, unjust, corrupt, and in need of some fundamental transformation. Only the superhero federal government can save the day. It is tragic that the police have to be vilified for this agenda to advance. Many good men and women put their lives at risk to pursue a calling to a life of service. Heaven help them if they can be exploited to advance this agenda.

Hillary Clinton has now jumped squarely into the middle of the "Police accountability movement". We can rest assured that this will be a focal point of the 2016 election cycle (unless they can wrap it up before then). The democrats will offer the options of supporting federal government expansion into local law enforcement, or supporting injustice. The Republicans have an opportunity to take a stand. Wouldn't that be incredible?