A U.S. Senator being thrown to
the ground and handcuffed rather than escorted out of the building because he
asked a difficult question for the speaker holding a news conference
illustrates not only the bias towards using excessive force that having police
power lavishes on human nature, but also a proclivity toward excessiveness
without any internal mental check that is entwined in virtually any human
brain. That the primary arresting FBI employee was the only person in the room wearing
a bulletproof vest inside the federal (government) building may also
reveal his penchant for exaggeration—or, going too far without realizing it.
The prescription in terms of public policy is a strengthening of checks on law-enforcement
employees even, if possible, by embedding other municipal (or federal)
employees whose sole function it is to evaluate police conduct either by
listening in or observing even in real time. A U.S. senator being thrown to the
ground and handcuffed in a federal building in California rather than
escorted out of the building evinces a power-trip more base, violent, and primitive
than the typical power-trips that occur on the “floor” of the U.S. Senate. It
must have been a shock to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla on June 12, 2025 to be
physically shoved to the ground, especially if the rationale for his removal
from the press conference was itself an exaggeration.
The full essay is at "A U.S. Senator Thrown to the Ground."
