Normalizing the police riot

At the end of this column, Pierce gets at what the pre-Wilson indictment/non indictment freak out is really all about. It's a doubling down on the police militarization stance.

The Guard is a military organization, as many Guardsmen who served under the unsteady command of C-Plus Augustus in Iraq can tell you. Their weaponry and their training are all military. In some cases, such as a response to a natural disaster, this plain fact is evinced simply by the Guard's military efficiency. In this case, however, it will be evinced by bayonets and tanks. And the examples cited occurred when the Guard was called in to face a situation that already had begun. In this case, Nixon has called in the Guard before anything has happened. So, Chief, the response is already "militarized." Multiply that.

If Wilson gets no-billed, there will be a reaction, and all of it will not occur in Missouri. I don't think I'm out of line when I wonder whether or not said reaction will be used as a test case for how much official violence the general public will tolerate to be kept safe from Unruly Others in the street. I do not think I want to know the answer to that.

Not only are they preparing to forcefully put down any civil disobedience, they are begging for the opportunity to do it.  It's nice that we've spent the last few months having a sad about the fact that we police the streets with army men now. But that doesn't magically make the army men go away. 

They want to keep their army stuff. And the best way to keep your army stuff is to demonstrate that you need to use it.  Which is why they're all geared up right now.  Just hoping something happens... or planning to make something happen.