Editor,

So, exactly what has been accomplished?

Certain groups transformed some protests into predatory mobs that embarked on an orgy of rioting, looting, assault and murder while the local politicians stood by and did nothing.

The mobs screams of “systemic racism” and “pervasive police brutality” are accepted as axiomatic by these same politicians and by an unquestioning news media.

Any attempt to question the validity of these claims or to provide fact-based explanations as to why they are false is met with violence in the form of threats, of being fired, assaulted, or even killed.

Injustice does exist. Bad people do exist. There are human predators in every neighborhood.

This is precisely why our republic has the rule of law, not of the lynch mob. This is precisely why we have a very professional police force as the first line of defense of our law.

Our police truly are the thin blue line that protect law-abiding citizens from the predators among us.

When our elected politicians use the false narrative of “pervasive police brutality” as an excuse for preventing the police from providing this protection, they have failed in their sworn legal duty to maintain law and order.

Change is needed, but I do not agree with the change being called for. I strongly disagree with the idea of “defunding” our police.

Doing so would be akin to finding a bad apple and embarking on a program to cut down all our apple trees.

Instead, we need to fire the political leaders who willfully directed the police to allow the violence to happen and elect responsible and ethical leaders who follow the law.

Understand that real change begins not with an emotional response to the event of the moment, but with a healthy introspection concerning the firmness of your own morals, resultant ethics, and the kind of person you choose to be.

You must decide if you want a life that is full of opportunity and personal freedom within a community that adheres to the law or if you want a life of fear and uncertainty in a community whose elected representatives blow wherever the political winds of the moment go.

If you will not be silenced and speak from a well-reasoned position based on facts, you, your family, and our community will flourish.

If you are silent, you will get a life imposed on you by others.

Ed Meyer

Oak Harbor