Extremism: Root it out with mental health screenings
We need a mental health exam for the presidency. We also need a mental health/bias and empathy exam for all positions involving legislative powers and use of force, including lethal force.
We don’t need defunded police. We do need police who are proven to be bias-free and can defuse situations.
We need a new charter for police unions. Those officers who egregiously offend should be removed from law enforcement or prosecuted.
The time for soft pedaling officers who disrupt normal daily lives of citizens of all colors and appearance is over! Have no sympathy or personal restraint? Get no sympathy in the courts!
As for protesters, if you are legitimate you must engage in rigorous self policing. Either you are for civil law or you are an opportunistic self server; there is no in between.
No decent citizen who watches wanton destruction deserves a civil society – you know, a society in which rabid gun rights individuals can’t get away with intimidating decent peaceful citizens?
Oh yeah, there needs to be a mental test for NRA members, too.
Dana Burt, Tacoma
This story was originally published August 12, 2020 at 10:30 AM with the headline "Extremism: Root it out with mental health screenings."