HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-15-14 Bearcat, LarsonFrom: Boden Larson [mailto:boden.larson@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 15, 2014 10:45 AM
To: Agenda
Subject: Bearcat
I heard the Bozeman city manager on the radio this morning say that the Bozeman PD's
controversial new Bearcat military vehicle would be useful if environmental terrorists targeted
Yellowstone.
A Bearcat in Bozeman, where we turn our police reports into hilarious little calendars. Maybe we
should give the police jetpacks and bazookas and put them through Navy Seal training.
After all, wasn't it Thomas Jefferson who once said: "you can just never be too safe. Sure, you
might spend a lot of money, hurt a bunch of citizens, and put your very democracy in jeopardy,
but if it saves just one life then it's worth it. " I might not have gotten that quote exactly right.
I've never been a conspiracy kind of guy, and I don't think that there's an actual conspiracy taking
place. But when multiple government agencies can literally monitor your every interaction with
nearly zero oversight and without your ever knowing it, the talking heads routinely abuse the
word "terrorist", and even the local police in Bozeman Montana are militarized....well...it doesn't
take a genius to realize that you shouldn't store your bucket of bleach next to your bucket of
ammonia.
Ok, I can hear you say: "But Boden, what if something really bad does happen in Bozeman, like
one of those extremely rare incidents that seem to happen all of the time because of recent
advances in communication even though they actually happen much less frequently than at any
time in our history...what if that actually happens?" That's a great point. Bad things are indeed
guaranteed to happen on a long enough timeline. I would argue that the government should
create some kind of national force to guard us against these scenarios. It could be a lot like the
military, but designed for internal security. They could even be called up for war if they're ever
needed. It could be called something like The Guard of the Nation. Or the National Guardians. I
dunno, maybe that's a stupid idea.
Anyhow, I might have biffed that Jefferson quote, but here's a quote that I know I'll get mostly
right: "We will not walk in fear of one another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason, if
we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from
fearful men." Edward Murrow. What does that have to do with a Bearcat in Bozeman? I dunno,
figure it out.
Boden Larson