David French in his NYT article (Colleges have Gone Off the Deep End. There Is a Way Out) on college protests quoted Martin Luther King in his treatment of the conduct of civil disobedience. He writes: “the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described the principle perfectly: “When one breaks the law that conscience tells him is unjust, he must do it openly, he must do it cheerfully, he must do it lovingly, he must do it civilly — not uncivilly — and he must do it with a willingness to accept the penalty.”

In a time when it seems one needs a ditch digger to set the bar for moral, ethical, and legal behaviors, the high, beautifully stated position of Reverend Dr. King fills me with a painful nostalgia. If you are reading this at all, you will already know how far we have drifted from this essential qualification for civil disobedience. In training professional decision making using the TGD process, I had to tell professionals that not every law or regulation will precisely fit your moral and ethical standards or ‘sense of good’, but the deal is a lot of citizen parents, and family members and concerned community came to together to create these laws to support their family members, and our job is to administer (to serve) the benefits for those citizens and not divert or pervert the intent of this benefit stream. Morally you can fight the unjust rules to change them. You are morally obligated do everything you legally can to protect your sense of morality, but in the end if you feel you must break the law, do it with the understanding of the price to pay. That understanding will refine your choices remarkably and protect the rule of law, which is a foundation track of a working democracy. What we have witnessed in this current election cycle regarding respect for the rule of law makes the heart bleed. Where is the spirit of Dr King in these needy times?