 Hey guys Dylan Schumacher Citadel Defense, so it's been an interesting past couple days in Minnesota I'm sure as you're all well aware there was the entire incident that's happened with George Floyd who was from what I can tell murdered by some police officers and Following there's been some riots Several businesses have been burned to the ground and looting has gotten way out of control And it's been some interesting past couple days I've been thinking about it and The more I think about it. I think that there's there's a continual theme here You know these things are layered right? I mean there's like the raw emotional anger, which I think is justified in this case Is right You know there's there's just a lot of rage around stuff like this, which again in this case. I think is justified And I've felt some of that myself here And been pretty mad at a couple points along this whole deal And so as I've thought about it the theme that I keep coming back to is a Overgrown overblown overreaching government and and that's how we end up in situations like this I might be reaching. I'm not I'm not trying to reach just to stuff this into my own Uh, political understanding and my own view of things or to even make it political I'm just saying that's really what I think one of the Like the root root causes is here if you go down a couple levels That's that's the bedrock on which stuff like this is built And so I'd like to like to explain that to hopefully convince you that that's one of the problems And and that's the reason we shouldn't have big government in this country And it's the reason that the government shouldn't be the solution to our problems because they end up becoming the problem So to back up a couple steps here And the reason I kind of picked that for my theme because this this latest deal with with george floyd I just consider kind of the crescendo Of of what's happening. And here's what I mean So we've had this coronavirus thing going on for weeks, which has been a whole other host of issues Right And the most common response from state governments Uh, especially the ones run by democrats Is is lockdown, right? It's it's total control of your life. You can't go here. You can't see these people. You can't do this You know, it's Wild infringement on your first amendment rights so bad that in wisconsin the supreme court even struck it down Saying it was unconstitutional. Good job for them So in minnesota here, we're still under a quasi lockdown deal You're not supposed to be able to gather in groups over a certain size and on and on and on All the states around us the only one I don't know for sure is Iowa But are are open wisconsin like I said, they struck it down there south dakota never closed down They never had a stay at home order. They never had any of that garbage North dakota is opening back up and I'm not 100 percent sure about iowa, but I'm pretty sure it's it's also opening back up In minnesota remains close. I think we have a total of circa 900 deaths right now in minnesota from coronavirus 81 percent of those last I knew that could have changed in the last couple days are from Long-term care facilities because in minnesota what they did Is they put people with covet 19? Into long care term facilities with a bunch of old people and surprise surprise a bunch of them get sick and die Who could have seen that coming same policy they did in new york? And it's been as disastrous in minnesota as it was there And then of course the government turns around and says well because it's really dangerous We we have to tell you what to do and where to go So you do the math on that So That's one really big theme that's come out right like this this in total infringement on your first amendment rights On on who you can see and when you can see him and where you're allowed to go I mean like communists trying to level kind of of infringement, right? And then so the the reason i'm connecting that to the the floyd incident is because We have a thing in this country where police officers break the law And seem to get away with it and aren't charged Aren't even charged sometimes. I remember the eric garner deal back in new york several years ago Where they used an illegal chokehold on a guy who was selling loose cigarettes and he died and the police officers weren't even charged That's pretty bad, right? So there's this thing there's this theme here of Police officers doing things they shouldn't be doing that are illegal people end up dying and police officers aren't even charged And I think that's one of the reasons there's a lot of anger So the reason there's a lot of anger from me about it when I certainly think about it Is because we're not living by the same laws. We're not playing by the same rules rather government agents Get to live by different laws than the rest of us And this is the result of that I would argue Uh, the reason there's riots and people get so mad and so emotional is because they don't think that justice is going to happen Right if if we believed justice was coming We would not feel as visceral and angry response to things like this, right? For example, if if I were to get shot on the street tomorrow by some Uh, some person right and robbery got bad or whatever Um, it wouldn't no one's going to protest that no no one's going to really care Partly because I'm I'm not known but more importantly Uh, because we would assume justice is going to be done there. Well, they arrested the guy that shot him You know, he's in jail. Yeah, he's going to go to jail for murder. I mean, it's it's pretty clear Right that that'd be clear. No no one's going to get upset about that and be mad that justice isn't being served but When it's someone with a badge that does it to someone without a badge under extremely dubious at best Circumstances No one really believes justice is going to happen and so there's this visceral angry reaction And that's what happens When we let the government play by different rules and laws then we have to play by Right, it's like the mayor of chicago when she went and got a haircut Even though the whole city was on lockdown and now threatens people with arrest if they leave their houses When she sent police cars to churches to knock down doors And arrest people who are at church because they were breaking her order, right? It's that kind of hypocrisy. It's that kind of Big government is the solution And different rules for us and different rules for you And that's what leads me to this place. Like I said where that's the theme for me It's a big government is the problem and when we look to it as a solution These are the results that we can end up getting Because there's different laws for them. There's different rules for them And there's not the same rules for us. So That comes back to my argument my hope For you is that out of this you would realize we should Continue to fight to shrink the size of the government I don't want government paid health care I can't even trust them to do the policing part why I'm good guy I'm god's good earth what I want them in charge of whether or not I'm allowed to have a heart surgery, right? Uh, I I don't think that increased reliance and growing the government in any spectrum Is going to be a good thing. I think instead it leads to things like this Where you have a government agent acting in a certain way That's not right And then it leads the rest of us feeling helpless and frustrated and disenfranchised If we shrink the size of the government and we shrink the control and power of the government These things are less likely to happen and there will be greater repercussions for when they do I'm not saying they'll never happen. You can't get rid of human sin. That's impossible Until jesus comes back until then we have to deal with the the problem, which is people right you me everybody We're all sinful people and that's the problem and by limiting the power of those that are in government We can help curb things like this So if you've never thought about that if you remain that connection, I hope that's helpful for you I hope that gives some kind of perspective on it um Obviously is a terrible deal in a terrible situation and I I really just think the theme there is The the government has grown too big for it's bridges There were some there's some good and bad stories come out of this So I also saw a video of some guys during the riots where they had their ar slung up and they were out protecting like a local cigar shop And I thought hey great great good for those guys I also saw reported incidents of police going to people who were open carrying Uh cuffing them detaining them and confiscating their gun They'd let them go but they confiscate their gun which in minnesota under minnesota law is 100 legal like a thousand percent illegal Sorry, it's illegal. It's not legal. That is 100 illegal. You can't do that like by any stretch No, no crime has been committed the result you're open carrying a gun. We're going to confiscate that right So nothing like doubling down on authoritarianism after you've already gotten hot water by being too authoritarian So again, these are the themes that I come back to I'm not trying to force this to fit my my political viewpoint or my political spectrum Or anything I really honestly think that's the bedrock cause is when the government gets too big These are the results that we have to live with So I'd like you to consider that think about it if you haven't you can tell me I'm a moron or whatever But I really think there's there's a piece to it there. I really firmly believe that george flood could have been anybody Me you anybody I believe that because again, I think the pop the root problem is is Overblown government power and people getting to live by different laws than everyday citizens get to live by And so I I firmly believe that could have been me. There's no reason it couldn't have been so Think about it. Let me know what you think. I know we're all in an uproar and uh There's a lot of anger and frustration and a lot of it is very legitimate Riding and looting is well looting is definitely bad riding depending how you find that might not be so bad But looting is definitely bad Do brave deeds End endure