The world is littered with unintended consequences

Romantically naive though barely plausible notions such as "Defund the police" have both first and second order consequences. Everyone is focusing on the first order - no police, no safety or order. And that is a valid first order concern.

But the second order effects are often as interesting and sometimes as consequential.

"Defund the Police" arises from racist social justice anarchists but they ignore the class dimensions which also have implications for race and gender.

Social workers in the United States are overwhelmingly female (83%) and mostly white (69%). Defunding the police means a lot fewer jobs for black and Hispanic men and a lot more jobs for white women.https://t.co/vEzWn3SKgO

— Darel E. Paul (@darelmass) June 12, 2020

"Defund working class minority men in order to improve the lives of college educated middle class white women" as a second order equivalent slogan is clunkier to be sure. But it is perhaps much more clear.

And I think there are relatively few naive advocates for "Defund the Police" who would also willingly sign up for "Defund working class minority men in order to improve the lives of college educated middle class white women". Yet that is what they are currently doing.

Always look at the second order (and third order) effects for any advocated position. The world is littered with unintended consequences.

And rather than focus on divisive identities such as race and gender, let's just agree on problems to be solved. Let's reduce violent deaths rather than privileging some lives over others, some genders over others. Let's not get sucked into the poisonous precepts of social justice and instead champion the human universalism of classical liberalism.

And let's keep our eyes open for first, second, and third order effects.