One of government’s primary responsibilities is to keep people safe. Elected officials make laws that keep the peace and protect us from violent criminals. It’s an idea that seems like common sense to an overwhelming majority of us.Yet in recent years, loud voices on the far-left crying “Defund the Police” have pushed policies threatening that most basic role of government.
We saw it firsthand in our nation’s capital.The D.C. Council recently passed a law that would have reduced the punishments for crimes like murder, burglary, and carjacking.They did so just as those very crimes were on the rise. Carjackings rose for the fifth year in a row. For the first time in nearly two decades, D.C. had over 200 murders a year for two years in a row. Common sense tells us that cutting the penalties for these crimes while they’re being committed more often would cause more harm than good.
Now, why does D.C. crime matter or why does Congress have a say in it? The truth is Washington, D.C. belongs to all Americans, including Nebraskans. The Constitution calls for the District to be the “Seat of the Government of the United States.” It’s every American citizen’s right to visit our nation’s capital and engage directly with their representatives. They should be able to do that without fearing their lives because of D.C.’s soft-on-crime policies.
