the principles of law and order, the Presidentnpromised an investigation into potentialncivil rights abuses. Didn’t Americann”law and order” use to include thenprinciple of double jeopardy? Did thenlooters regard the President’s promise asnanything less than a justification of theirncrimes?nIn the eyes of black political leaders,nan investigation was insufficient. Theyndemanded immediate prosecution ofnthe officers and, presumably, a summarynconviction. Ross Perot, proving that henreally was a presidential candidate, issuednan evenhanded statement condemningnboth the riots and the verdict.nBy equating due process with pillage andnthe beating of a career criminal with thenmurder of dozens of innocent people,nvirtually the entire leadership class ofnthe United States abandoned the innerncities to terror and declared an end tonthe rule of law.nThere is only one civilized responsento looters, and that is to shoot them onnsight. Of what possible use is our racialn”sensitivity,” when we encourage lowerclassnblacks to burn down the houses andnstores of working- and middle-classnblacks and Koreans? Black neighborhoodnbusinessmen were stunned. Why arenthey doing this to us? Why didn’t theynburn down city hall?nEvery morning the hosts of the threennetwork News Lite programs explainednto us that the riots were only the culminationnof a growing sense of rage in thenblack community. There are two Americasnnow, Bryant Gumble informed us,nand white America has turned its backnon civil rights since 1968.nBy this Bryant did not mean we hadnnot passed evermore onerous civil rightsnlegislation or even that we had not expandednthe welfare state. No, what henmeant was simply that we preferred tondevote some time and energy to othernquestions, and that black Americansnwere demanding more: more transfer ofnwealth from whites to blacks, more programsnand policies mandating discriminationnin their favor, more testimonialsnof white guilt. As John Chancellor put it,nwhat triggered the verdict and the riotsnwas all that Republican talk of reversendiscrimination and welfare queens.nFor the first time in his career as animatednmale model, Mr. Chancellor isnonto something. Middle-class Americansnare, to some extent, exasperatednwith the privileges showered upon minorities,nand it is those privileges thatnhave incited blacks into thinking ofnthemselves as a community of victimsnabove the law. It is a reasonable conclusionnfor them to draw. We pay them fornnot working; we pay them for having babiesnout of wedlock; we keep payingnthem so long as none of the boyfriendsncan be talked into a permanent arrangement.nThere are masses of young blacknmales who can live off their mothers andngirlfriends, while pushing a little cracknor stealing a few TVs for pin money.nSex without obligation, rights withoutnresponsibility. “Money for nothingnand the chicks for free,” as Dire Straitsnput it a few years ago. The song takesnon a whole new meaning in L.A.: “Wengot to move your microwave oven, wengot to move your color TV.” The fruitsnof the welfare state are putting out a luxuriantngrowth in Los Angeles and othernmajor American cities, and the only realn”solution” to the problem has to go beyondnthe immediate crackdown on lawlessnessnthat every decent American isndemanding. The only long-term solutionnis, as all the pundits and black leadersndeclare, a reform of the welfare system,nbut instead of expanding thennetwork of services, we need to disman­nnntle the entire welfare state apparatus thatnhas created the mob of urban terroristsnwho can torch a city and, in the samenbreath, demand their rights.n—Thomas FlemingnTHE JURY is the greatest achievementnof the Anglo-Saxon legal system. Nonmatter how much pressure from kingsnand lords, or in our ease politicians andnthe media, “twelve good men and true”ncan do the right thing, so to speak. Andnthat is exactly what they did in the casenof Rodney King, although it could notnhave been easy for them to stand up tonthe hatred of the entire Establishment.nHow heartening that they did, for if thenLos Angeles Four had been convicted ofnthe charges against them, justice wouldnhave been suborned by hysteria. Kingnwas always described in the media as an”black motorist.” Well, yes, but that isnhardly a sufficient description.nKing, an ex-con with a long policenrecord, speeded at 100 mph for eightnmiles through a residential neighborhoodnwhile the police tried to pull himnover. When the cops finally succeeded,nthe six-foot-three, 250-pound per-nlULY 1992/5n