Laws must be followed

A blindfold and scales represent the American judicial system, signifying equality and balance.

Recent events bring our laws into question. While laws are made based on common sense, many choose to ignore them. Can America operate under two or more sets of laws? And will this great country be forever divided by ideology or skin color? Can we bend to the pressures of malcontents to adopt more lenient laws; laws that enable criminal acts to go unpunished? Or should we enforce existing laws without regard to ideology or skin color?

Rioting, looting, burglary, robbery, assault and arson are all serious crimes and should not be permitted. Those choosing to commit such acts should be prosecuted to the full extent of the existing laws – period. Either abide by our laws or change them. There can be no middle ground and no alternatives.

One man in Ferguson, Missouri, was filmed committing arson. A clear-thinking woman put the fire out with the store’s milk supply. Give that good Samaritan a civic medal. Tell her story and make her award as big a deal as the riots themselves. Maybe things will cool off if we stop sensationalizing criminality and highlight compliance.

David Michaelson

Harrington, Wash.