Are we in the last days of Rome or is there hope? Edmund Burke observed in substance that all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and women should do nothing. John Kennedy told us that, in this world, God’s work must truly be our own. If I know nothing else, I’m certain we’ll get the kind of society we deserve.

If we have come to a time when children, observing the behavior of adults and noting (as children surely do), that execrable conduct by adults, though heartily condemned, is seldom if ever really punished, then we should expect teen gangs to take up the practice of setting alight anyone they feel has wronged them. Be careful, if some teenage thug thinks you cut him off in traffic, he’ll get your home address from the RMV and set up a time for your dousing with alcohol and being set alight.

This Brewer matter is most grievous. The implications for what is left of our society are as well.