[originaltext] [29] A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for t

[29] A wise man once said that the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. So, as a police officer, I have some urgent thing to say to good people.
     Something has gone wrong with our once-proud American way of life. A key ingredient is disappearing: responsibility, which means that every person is responsible for his actions. Without it, there can be no respect, no law, and ultimately, no society. My job as a police officer is to impose responsibility on people who refuse to impose it on themselves. [30] But as every policeman knows, controls on people’s behavior are far less effective than internal restrictions such as guilt, shame and embarrassment. Yet gradually, especially in our larger cities and suburbs, these inner restrictions are loosening. Your typical robber has none. He considers your properly his property; he takes what he wants, including your life.
     The main cause of this break-down is a radical shift in attitudes. Thirty years ago, if a crime was committed, society was considered the victim. Now it’s the criminal who is considered victimized: by the school that didn’t teach him to read, by the church that failed to reach him with moral guidance, by the parents who didn’t provide a stable home. I don’t believe it. Many others in equally disadvantaged circumstances choose not to engage in criminal activities. If we free the criminal from responsibility, we become a society of endless excuses. [31] We desperately need more people who believe that the person who commits a crime is the one responsible for it.