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1)Can I do a thought experiment with y'all? We witnessed the GOP successfully fundraise and weaponize the #DefundThePolice frame even though The GOP has successfully Defunded Schools, Defunded Healthcare, Defunded Environmental Policy, Defunded the Arts
2)The GOP has successfully Defunded Public Housing, and they wanted to Defund Social Security (privatize it), they have Defunded Social Safety Nets.
3) We know that "Defund" doesn't mean "Abolish" but it does mean that a program gets LESS money, and that money goes somewhere else (reallocation). Republicans who defund Social Safety nets reallocate that money to military projects, the police, or to pet projects of their own.
4)Republicans of course don't use the words "Defund" they use the words like "School Choice" to defund Public Schools, "Pro-Life" to defund Abortion/Healthcare, "Welfare or Nanny State" to defund social safety nets, and "Death tax" to avoid paying estate and inheritance taxes.
5)Police budgets have grown exponentially over the last few decades (especially at the Federal Level) and don't correlate with us being safer. Federal funding grew after 1994 (crime bill) and 9/11. Billions flowed to local police departments. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/09/872387351/how-federal-dollars-fund-local-police
6)IMO Federal Dollars don't need to go to Police & could be reallocated to Public Health initiatives. So if we move those Federal $ from the Police to Public Housing, Schools, and Safety Nets we are essentially "Defunding Police" but not abolishing them. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-04/america-s-policing-budget-has-nearly-tripled-to-115-billion
7) So my 4 questions are to y'all are: 1. Is saying "Defund The Police" harmful because The GOP can capitalize of that slogan (and if so does that mean we are letting the GOP influence our narrative?) 2. Do you think most people think "Defund The Police" means Abolish?
8) 3. Do you think we should say "Invest in Communities" instead even though investing in communities would be reprioritizing our budgets at the local, state, and federal level and therefore it means we would reduce police budgets which means we are defunding the police?
9) Last but not least 4) If you don't think we should say "Defund the Police" is it because you think its a bad slogan but agree with its intent? or Do you think Police budgets should stay as they are and we should not focus on them at all?
