I am bewildered by the new wave of protests in favor of lawlessness. Some examples:

Immigration law. We have had strict laws covering immigration for years. There is a well defined process for obtaining legal permission to come from another country and live in the USA. I know the process first hand, because I went through it. Unfortunately it seems that, for all the people who do it legally, there are just as many, or perhaps more, who ignore the law and enter the US illegally. Unfortunately the laws have not been enforced as aggressively as they could have been. Because of that there are a number of undesirable (shall we say criminals; I know, it is politically incorrect to call a law breaker a criminal these days) in the US illegally. Finally the US has a President that feels laws should be enforced not ignored. And what happens; we get large rallies and organized protests in the streets decrying enforcement of the immigration laws. The justification seems to be; these criminals got away with breaking the law so they now deserve a free pass, immunity from the law of the land. What? These are laws, not polite suggestions! Nobody gets to selectively decide which laws to obey and which to ignore. How can anybody suggest that enforcing the law is somehow inhumane?

In the Atlanta area where I live (and in other parts of the country) it seems like there is a story on the TV news every evening about the police attempting to arrest a criminal in the process of of committing a crime, or trying to serve a felony warrant. The police attempt a lawful arrest and the criminal fights back, tries to run, or both. Often a high speed car chase is involved, endangering the lives of countless innocent people. Because the criminal resists, the police must use force to effect the arrest. When the criminal is finally in custody, what do we see on in the news story? Not congratulations to the police for a job well done. No, we see protests again, well publicized by the media, claiming police brutality. The inference being that, even though the police took a violent criminal off the streets, they failed the public because they did not do it in a kind and gentle manner. People who advocate that the police allow a violent criminal to assault the arresting officer or to run rather than have the police use force to arrest them do not deserve to be the lead story on the 6 o’clock news. Again, lawlessness seems to be preferred to the rule of law and the police’s power of arrest?

If we believe the TV news, it appears that the tendency of a lot of people is to resist whenever a law enforcement person attempts an arrest. I don’t believe it used to be that way. There was a time in history when people respected the order of law and didn’t question it. If the police said you were under arrest, you complied. These days, where public opinion seems to be that we all have the right to pick and choose which laws we will abide by and which we will ignore, resisting arrest, in any way you can, seems like a logical extension of that attitude. So sad!