We’re roiled by a national protest on inequality, we’re dogged by a disease that is surging back and forcing millions onto unemployment rolls, and we’re watching in disbelief as agitators splinter away from a good and necessary cause to go off and topple statues of Christopher Columbus.

You can support the destruction and vandalism of statues, or you can respect the law, but you can’t do both — at least not without acknowledging the feverishly misguided precedent that is being set. City leaders across America are now removing Columbus monuments simply to prevent the chaotic effects of a mob mentality descending upon their parks and squares, and not because of what’s right and just.