Defund the Police is a Luxury Belief

00:00:00.000 | So what is an example of a luxury belief?

00:00:02.960 | Well, in 2020, the defund the police movement gained a lot of momentum.

00:00:07.600 | And in early 2021, YouGov ran a survey and found that overall,

00:00:12.000 | Americans were very much against defunding the police.

00:00:15.120 | But when they broke down the results by income category,

00:00:17.600 | they found that the highest income Americans were by far

00:00:20.080 | the most supportive of defunding the police.

00:00:22.080 | There was another survey of just Democratic voters and found that

00:00:24.880 | white Democrats were far more supportive of defunding the police

00:00:27.280 | than black and Hispanic Democrats.

00:00:28.800 | And so as a result, despite the fact that most people didn't want this,

00:00:31.760 | many cities across the US subsequently reduced spending for police departments.

00:00:36.000 | And this has contributed to the violent crime wave

00:00:38.560 | that we've seen over the last couple of years.

00:00:40.080 | So in the US, relative to those earning $75,000 or more per year,

00:00:43.600 | the poorest Americans are seven times more likely to be victims of robbery,

00:00:46.560 | seven times more likely to be victims of aggravated assault,

00:00:48.720 | and 20 times more likely to be victims of sexual assault.

00:00:51.440 | It's important here to understand that to not stop crime

00:00:53.920 | is to actually victimize the poor.

00:00:55.840 | This is a luxury belief.