Many blacks often exhibit asocial behavior that is immensely incompatible with the ethical and legal standards on which our Republic has been built. We have seen many examples of such behavior since proliferation of digital technology made taking and distributing of live videos readily available to average people. They include: rioting, looting, vandalism, destruction, and attacks on law enforcement, just to name a few.

Not that all or a majority of blacks engage in this kind of asocial behavior, or that blacks are the only ones who do it, but many seem to possess a natural propensity to resort to it when faced with reality of which they disapprove. Some will resist a temptation of turning asocial and some, fortunately, will not, but the fact is that they as a group show much less self-restraint in this respect than average Americans do. This creates a serious problem for our national unity and stability of our Republic. It would be irrational, and even dangerous, to ignore it.

Some political activists and groups have suggested that the said incompatibility is irreconcilable and requires transformation of our Republic in order to make blacks as a whole compatible with it. They often see manifestations of it as a result of “systemic racism”. They blame the majority of Americans and their ancestors for not building a country that would not presuppose “acting white”, as some pejoratively refer to, in order to let blacks fully enjoy the blessing of liberty and prosperity that America offers its residents.

It is all but certain that our Republic is not 100 percent perfect and may need some carefully drafted and cautiously implemented corrections. The Founding Fathers of our nation were very realistic about possibility of such imperfections when they included Article V in the U.S. Constitution that codified process of amending it. What our Republic does demonstrably possess, though, is its exceptional ability to self-repair. It allowed our forebears to fix the wrongs of the past so that these past wrongs did not derail America’s amazing journey towards better and better future.

But the claims that our society needs to be transformed so that its members can keep doing whatever they feel like doing and still achieve the level of success that meets their American expectations belong to the category of unproven nonsense. They are unproven because no one has proved or provided any credible evidence that such “everything goes” approach will yield lasting liberty and prosperity for all. They are nonsense because current and historic facts demonstrate that departure from the Western moral and legal norms and standards inevitably leads to the erosion of individual liberty, economic insolvency, and low living standards for the common people. Show me one political system today or in the past, built around today’s demands of black activists and their advocates, that delivered lasting freedom, prosperity, and tranquility to the majority of its subjects. I have not seen a shred of factual evidence that such a country has ever existed, never mind any country that the black majority of which have built for other race or races.

In particular, when rioting, looting, vandalizing, and burning, as well as uncalled-for violence towards individuals and law enforcement, are deemed socially-acceptable expressions of group discontent then the society that does not condemn and eliminate them is doomed to fail. The bedrock American values, such as individual responsibility and self-reliance, work ethic, self-restraint, respect to law and property, commitment to truth and individual freedom, and investing in one’s own future, have not been adopted at random as a result of whimsical will of our ancestors. They are with us for a good reason – they are among the necessary prerequisites for sustainability of a free and prosperous society. Because of that, all those who attempt to eradicate these values from our national conscience are posing an existential threat to our and our descendants’ lives, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Let us look at a specific example. President Trump just signed an executive order on police reform. Some black leaders and politicians (for instance, Sen. Kamala Harris) were quick to deem it “meaningless”. They apparently expected a total reform of American law enforcement in order to accommodate natural behavioral patterns of some black suspects that were likely to trigger use of force by the cops. They seemed to assert that if there was any incompatibility between such behavior and law enforcement policies and procedures then the policies and standards must go.

But why is it so that almost no one among the said leaders and politicians have suggested that some blacks need to change, too? How about if those who engage in criminal acts just stop breaking the law? How about if they try to treat law enforcement with a level of respect that a lawful armed force require from a reasonable person? How about if they try not to fight with police and not to resist arrests? How about if they stop trying to or grabbing cop’s guns and using them against the cops or anybody else? Is it really too much to ask?

America is great as is, not withstanding some imperfections that will almost certainly be fixed taking into account its exceptional ability to self-repair. As of today, virtually all Americans are given a fair chance to succeed in the pursuit of their American dream. For all those to question this fact of life, look at the millions of poor immigrants who do what they can to come here; most of them do take advantage of that chance and end up living much better than they ever did in their native countries. And for all those who missed it, why don’t you try to adjust your lifestyle and behavior rather than expecting that America should reform itself around your preferences? Why don’t you give a serious consideration to the American bedrock values that made America such a successful and desirable country? Why don’t you invest in your own feature, by means of learning hard and working hard, obeying the law, and adhering to common moral standards, as opposed to indulging yourself with frivolous pleasures of today?

Because in today’s America, those who are more productive, more creative, and more persistent will generally fare much better than those who aren’t. The former are being handsomely rewarded for the contributions they make to themselves and to the society. In addition to that, those who break the norms of social behavior risk being punished, and often sternly so. Any serious attempts to change those will just ruin what many generations of Americans have built. We the People have never had it so good, so it is well worth keeping it that way.

June 17, 2020

~ The Author ~
Mr. Dwyer has been a continuing contributor to the Federal Observer. Mark Andrew Dwyer’s recent columns are posted at:
https://federalobserver.com/?s=mark+andrew+dwyer
Links to his other commentaries can be found here: http://www.oocities.org/readerswrite/List_date.htm