After the death of George Floyd in 2020 the country erupted into protests and calls for reform. The rallying cry of many, particularly on the ideological left, was “defund the police.” The argument was that the police had become so corrupt that the only remedy was to cut their funding. Hence, many cities throughout the country haphazardly slashed police budgets and decriminalized illegal activity. Unsurprisingly, crime rose, police recruitment declined and the call to “defund the police” became a whimper. True reform would take time. The process of reform is not one of annihilation or destruction. We do not follow a Hegelian, Marxist platform that argues we need to destroy an institution in order to reform it. Our Lord does not destroy the sinner, he saves him.
In the past two weeks we have heard a new rallying cry: “defund the USAID.” Based on what we have learned this institution could certainly use reform. Some egregious examples of corruption include: $2 million dollars spent for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala, $2 million dollars for Moroccan pottery classes, and $7.9 million to teach Sri Lankan journalists to avoid “binary-gender language.” Curiously many of the people who were calling for defunding the police are now defending USAID as entirely necessary. At the same time, USAID is responsible for providing needed humanitarian aid to many countries throughout the world.
As we now know, the “defund the police” playbook is not a winning strategy. Reform of the USAID (and other government institutions) is certainly needed but will take time.
