Reconciling a nation overrun by scofflaws

Scofflaws on the brain. I’ve got it, and I suspect you do, too.

They chafe our hides, mainly because we’re constantly reminded of their presence and what they’ve done. If only we could snap our fingers and make the problem disappear.

Too late for that. But by obsessing about them, we hurt ourselves. We’re ramping up our blood-pressure levels.

Imagine, instead, a day when we get on with the business of living our lives.

The time is now.

It’s a matter of making peace with the conflicting emotions they generate in us.

Oh, how they exasperate....

In a country that stresses fair play, they’ve knowingly broken the law.

Yet, they’ve been among us for years and established long-standing ties to the communities.

They’ve flourished in large part because their employers turned a blind eye.

While costing us money out of our wallets, they also have contributed notably to our economy and are not, in the main, bad people.

They could ask, with some merit, what we’d have done without them.

They’re largely unrepentant about their actions, even when they’re in the company of peers who played by the rules.

They’d likely claim they did what they did to support their families.

Some of their rationalizations make sense. We understand, at some level, that they did what they did to survive in the world they lived in. Surely other people have done worse and gotten away with it.

And yes, the larger society shares some responsibility. While many of us have complained long and loud about them, many others of us have not. We have enabled them. Talk about sending mixed signals. Who could blame them for repeat violations?

They’ve also led us to some bad behaviors of our own. We’ve become suspicious of all of “them.” We know it’s unfair to judge a group by the actions of some, but it’s in our nature. Not the better part of our nature, to be sure, but we are who we are.

And while we’re talking human nature, who’s to say we wouldn’t have done the same things, if put in their situations?

All the more reason to get this behind us. Enough of the haggling and sermonizing and hypocrisy.

Congress has talked about the problem, but probably will detail the thing to death. My sense is the public wants this problem over with and will accept a broad-strokes compromise.

Here’s what I’d settle for:

* A high-minded statement that we’re not happy with lawbreakers in our midst, but that we at least understand their motivations and, more to the point, realize we can’t undo the past.

* A stern warning that future violators will be dealt with much more harshly.

* A general amnesty (I hate that word) for those who have otherwise shown good behavior and who have been here prior to Jan. 1, 2007.

* A much more serious effort to nip the problem in the bud. Some would call it “strengthening of the border,” but I’d use less incendiary phraseology like “entry-level proof” that verifies legal status.

* Finally, a statement -- perhaps from the president -- that this problem has troubled our nation long enough. He would stress his personal unhappiness that it has festered so long, but that it no longer serves the national interest to target individual violators. He would acknowledge that they’re getting a huge break, but remind them that this is a final amnesty.

Far from a perfect plan, I know, but it’s probably the best we can do.

Therefore, I submit it as my proposal for relieving, once and for all, our national fatigue about steroid use in major league baseball.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He can be reached at (714) 966-7821 or at

dana.parsons@latimes.com. An archive of recent columns: www.latimes.com/parsons