Gene Healy Says the Fight Against Militarized Police Is a Culture War Worth Having

Asked "whether it's proper to militarize the nation's city police forces,"President Obama opined last week that "one of the great things about the United States has been our ability to maintain a distinction between our military and domestic law enforcement." But the images coming out of Ferguson, Missouri, recently — body-armored, camo-clad "peace officers" with sniper rifles and mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles — have a lot of Americans wondering whether that has become a meaningless distinction. Gene Healy argues that resisting the continued militarization of the police is a culture war, and it's one worth fighting.