"Defunding the police" is often bandied around and characterized as though the most common position amongst progressives is a full defunding of the police and a

"Defunding the police" is often bandied around and characterized as though the most common position amongst progressives is a full defunding of the police and a society without any law enforcement. Are their progressives that advocate for that? Absolutely! But I don't believe that belief represents the majority (or even really a significant percentage) of progressives. I consider myself a progressive and I simply believe that we have, over the decades, thrust the management and resolution of societies ills onto law enforcement. At the same time, we haven't also invested in the kind of training for officers that would help them effectively occupy that role. So instead of having them occupying that role while also thrusting billions of dollars to militarize them at the same time, how about we talk a large portion of that money and use it to fund the communities that are struggling? Let's fund mental health counseling and other social programs that can help address some of the root causes of criminal activity instead of pushing all of that money into enforcement, which merely seeks to crush the problem after the fact with overwhelming force instead of addressing the underlying systemic issues. I personally don't think that is an unreasonable or radical position, and one that I think a large number of American progressives would agree with. I don't think a large number of American progressives would agree with the proposition of entirely refunding law enforcement (and neither do any Democratic senators, as shown by the vote earlier this week).