For Republicans, ‘law and order’ must be more than a slogan | Opinion

Republicans have a long history of being tough on crime, a reputation for wanting to keep American communities safe and law-abiding. Excusing criminality in our own ranks makes that policy sound disingenuous and destroys the already weakened bonds of trust in government.

More than 50 years ago, Richard Nixon won the presidency on a platform that emphasized “law and order.“ The phrase meant different things to different people, but at a time of rising crime, it appealed to plenty of ordinary Americans who saw their neighborhoods threatened by violence and their elected leaders doing little to stop it. “Law and order” spoke to voters’ basic notion of what the government should do. It became a staple of Republican platforms and, at times, a Democratic talking point as well, if worded differently. Then-Gov. Bill Clinton said in 1992 that “you can’t have civil justice without order and safety.”

It worked. Better policing, stricter laws, and lengthier jail sentences were always not perfect, but as the years went by, they contributed to the decline in crime. Consider the facts on the ground locally: After peaking at 444 murders in 1974, homicides here in Philadelphia declined to as low as 263 in 1984. Increased street violence in the 1990s caused more entrenchment against crime, but, as former Mayor Michael Nutter noted in these pages last month, “in 2013, Philadelphia experienced the lowest number of homicides since 1968.”

Law and order — often embraced by both parties — had helped make life better for the average Philadelphian. The story was similar in other cities across the country.

But success can breed complacency. Crime was already rising when the pandemic hit and the riots that followed George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis inflamed a restive public. Crime has soared, and once again Republicans find themselves calling for law and order.

That sentiment must mean more than locking up more criminals — it also must include denouncing criminality by our own side. Nixon’s reputation as a law-enforcer was forever tarnished by the crimes he condoned in the Watergate break-in. Modern Republicans — including former President Donald Trump — face the same problem when they fail to condemn the riot that invaded the U.S. Capitol last Jan. 6.

» READ MORE: America hit rock bottom on January 6, 2021. Will there be an epiphany? | Will Bunch

Conservatives are fond of saying we are a nation of laws — and we are. The law is greater than the wishes of any one person, and the order a lawful society creates allows for individual flourishing and community cohesion. There can be no progress of any sort in a society torn apart by crime and chaos.

When the same people who loudly “back the blue” dissemble and equivocate about the events of Jan. 6, it makes the whole theory appear cynical, focused more on the individual than any real principle.

But the principle is worth fighting for. Law and order means more than hanging a Blue Lives Matter flag outside your house. It means supporting the police, yes, but supporting them because they are agents of the law, enforcers of societal order that is necessary for a community to thrive.

Election law was being carried out in orderly fashion that day nearly a year ago when a mob burst through the doors of the Capitol, rushing past the Capitol Police officers who put their lives on the line to keep our federal lawmakers safe. An unruly horde stormed a building at the heart of the American republic, a place we should all hold sacred.

If you believe the mob that attacked the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., during a Black Lives Matter protest should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, while the mob that stormed the Capitol were just patriots protesting an injustice, then you don’t believe in law and order; you just believe in your side winning.

“If you believe that the mob that attacked the federal courthouse in Portland, Ore., during a Black Lives Matter protest should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, while the mob that stormed the Capitol were just patriots protesting an injustice, then you don’t believe in law and order; you just believe in your side winning.”

Nixon’s crimes made his law-and-order stance look cynical. It also destroyed trust in government and tainted the Republican Party and the government as a whole. The Capitol riots will have the same effect if they are allowed to go unchallenged by members of our party. Law and order create justice — and it must be justice for all.

Kyle Sammin is the senior editor of Philadelphia Weekly. @kylesammin