Rioting and Responsibility

We should be grateful for Kolkey’s column. A careful reading reveals one of the fallacies of his reasoning. Kolkey maintains that “the breakdown in order is largely a product of a philosophy . . . that one’s economic and social environment determines behavior.”

Kolkey goes on to blame social institutions and programs, and his own reforms include incentives for more education and training, tenant ownership, and school choice. Good ideas. He knows, then, that the economic and social environment must in fact be taken into account in understanding what happened in Los Angeles.

PAULINE K. ROBINSON

Balboa Island