Earlier this week, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the mayor of Baltimore sanctioned rioters by giving them "space to destroy." The failure of liberal policies is nothing new. But the utter abandonment of good judgment and common sense by many on the left is beyond even their accustomed folly. The rules ostensibly don't apply to them and subsequently weren't enforced. The mayor's willful disregard for public safety and the common good cannot be gainsaid.
The consequences were as foreseeable as her gross indifference was inexcusable. Allowing young people to destroy a city by rioting and assaulting law enforcement will not avail. Addressing past grievances of police excess legitimately through concerted legal action will though in time. Indeed, there are undoubtedly many good police officers who are trying to do as much by keeping the peace.
Though their initial response seemed to have missed the point, behavior of the rioters missed the form. The people in charge, namely the mayor frustrated their own efforts to help their causes while making the case for gun ownership all the stronger for those who are not and might otherwise have been affected. Excusing lawlessness as manifestations of misdirection or poverty is equally shameful. This is the tyranny of relativism and it must end.
Laws were broken. People and business were irreparably harmed because tactical and philosophical mistakes were made and not for the first time. The folks need to wise up fast by recognizing evil for what it is and take responsibility for it instead of comforting, equivocating and excusing it. If left unchecked, it will proliferate to other cities. When it does, the delicate balance struck between freedom and security will become further eroded until we have neither. The productive and upstanding citizens of Baltimore have labored long and hard to build their city in style. They must not become overshadowed by those who have none.