Many people looked up to prosecutors such as Spitzer who “sticks it to 'em” (the bad guys). They “deserved” it. And the same people get a perverted thrill out of the sticking, oblivious to the fact that they too are exposed as “criminals” not yet caught. And if caught, ask “why me” and “why are all others so delighted in my suffering” so unfair. That's the dark side of each and every one of us, a side extremely difficult to harness, a side that impedes the flowering of goodness because it nourishes the evil in us.

There are in excess of hundreds of thousands of laws on the books. While the ones Spitzer broke are irrelevant to you and me, others are not. Traffic laws alone total more than 2,000 and all of us have or are breaking them and others constantly. Without exception, there is no man living today who is not in violation of at least dozens of laws, for which he can be prosecuted, fined and/or incarcerated. Yet we think ourselves as pure and others as dirty and admire prosecutors who are “tough” on wrong-doers. Spitzer was no exception, unaware that he was also a wrong-doer.

Each and every law passed is another chip away from our freedoms, adding fodder for the prosecutor. If everyone was forced to abide by everyone of the laws, all could end up fined and/or incarcerated; our society paralyzed. We are saved through selective enforcement. Spitzer at once practiced and was the victim of selective enforcement.

Can America return to the days of its creation when we lived by a simple code - The Constitution - or are we to be so choked on the thousands of thousands of laws, that we will die as all great civilizations did? We should look upon Spitzer's misdeeds and say to ourselves, “If not by the grace of God, there go I” - thankful we are not in someone's crosshairs.

Peter Kotzer

Auburn