That Feudal Feeling

Has it always been the case that governments used the police as their private army? I think the police should be independent of political pressure; i.e., if they’re asked to do something illegal, they should refuse. However, during the 2004 Republican convention in New York, the cops pre-emptively arrested potential demonstrators and held them in jail until the convention was over.
The above photograph is subtly connected to the official portrait of the Supreme Court farther down the screen. The majority of the justices were selected not for their fidelity to the law but for their conservative leanings. Roberts and Alito lied through their teeth when questioned about their judicial philosophy during their confirmation hearings. Such questions ought to be fair game – that’s what the Senate needs to find out. Instead they acted they never heard of Rove v. Wade. These two judges were too ambitious for power to be bothered with telling the truth under oath.
As a society we’ll have to decide whether might makes right. Remember Roberts’ statement that a judge is like an umpire calling balls and strikes? But such objectivity has not characterized his tenure. And instead of being judicially modest, the Roberts court has reached widely to reverse long-standing precedents.
How long will the rule of law continue to prevail when the police and the courts themselves regard such questions and niceties to be dispensed with? President Obama has done little to reverse the excesses of the Bush administration.

What got my goat were the headlines accompanying this photo that emphasized not the overthrow of a repressive regime but the fact that the status of “our” precious air base was now in question.
The fallen policeman appears to be gazing directly at the photographer. His bloodied and uncovered face humanizes the otherwise fully covered cohort. His ear to the ground, perhaps he detects the march toward liberation. Will he be called upon in the future to repress the masses in the name of the next regime? After all, the previous leader came to power with promises to heed the people’s wishes. Dare we hope that things will improve for the people of Kyrgyzstan?

Kit (Nice to see you again!), be careful about what you say: we Americans learn their geography by going to war with countries.

The image makes me think of the shield wall tactic of the Roman army. Very effective against the chaotic attacks of the barbarians – until and unless they broke through. It required absolute intra-unit discipline. Part of maintaining that discipline was the belief among the soldiers that they were fighting for something worthwhile. Ideological morale, if you will.
I wonder about the mindset of the men in that huddle. Are they just earning a paycheck and trying to survive, or do they actually believe in the legitimacy of their government? I’d suspect the former. Not a firm base for self sacrifice and unit cohesion.
That’s the ultimate problem of relying on a shield wall. It requires morale, which requires some sort of legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens/soldiers. If a government has perceived legitimacy, it doesn’t need a shield wall against its own people.