Rockwell on Police Beating
I am appalled and embarrassed that Llewellyn Rockwell identifies himself as a libertarian (“It’s Safe Streets Versus Urban Terror,” Column Right, Commentary, March 10). There is nothing Libertarian about the notion that police are empowered to act as judge, jury and dispenser of punishment.
What becomes apparent from viewing the beating of Rodney King is that if the police had felt threatened by his “resistance” to arrest, they had sufficient numbers to restrain him with handcuffs. What is even more apparent is that this was not their concern or interest: The object was sport. If the primary rationale for the existence of police departments is the preservation of civilization, then it seems apparent that the Los Angeles Police Department has lost its raison d’etre. For there is nothing civilized--or libertarian--about making sport of the beating of another human being, no matter his suspected behavior.
JOHN VERNON
Libertarian Party of California
Van Nuys
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