1/ Some note that the publicly available evidence does not show that Derek Chauvin’s gross mistreatment of George Floyd resulting in Mr. Floyd’s death was necessarily racially motivated. The gathering of evidence, including the details of prior complaints against Chauvin, for
2/ presentation at the trial, should shed light on that. This, however, we can say based on what we have all seen with our own eyes: Chauvin utterly lacked respect for the sanctity of human life and the inherent and equal dignity of every human being--including George Floyd.
3/ People who fit that description should not be police officers or exercise public authority of any type. We do not expect public officials to be saints, but character--virtue and an understanding of, and commitment to, basic principles of morality--matters.
4/ So how is good character formed? How is virtue transmitted? How do we produce the good people without whom there can be no good society? Government can play only a limited--subsidiary--role in promoting virtue. It can't simply legislate it. The free market won't magically
5/ generate it. Courts can't produce it by issuing edicts. It is the institutions of civil society--Burke's "little platoons"--beginning with the family, that will transmit to each new generation the values and virtues children need to lead worthy lives and be good citizens--if
6/ it is to happen at all. That is why we--all of us--need to be concerned about the flourishing of marriage and the family and religious institutions and other voluntary associations. And we need to ensure that their just authority is not undermined or usurped--by government or
7/ by powerful, outsized private institutions or enterprises. For the common good to be properly served the various sectors of society--government, market, research and educational institutions, news and entertainment media, the professions, religious institutions, and families
8/ must be in decent shape and must play their proper roles. There is no substitute for virtue--and as a society we cannot get along without it. Even the best constitutional and other formal structures--what Madison rightly described as "auxiliary precautions"--are not enough.
