McLean County Times

Chuck Erickson, Republican chairman emeritus of McLean County, said he prefers the rule of law as he expressed his thoughts on the rioting and civil unrest happening in the U.S.

Erickson told the McLean County Times there is no instance where looting, arson, or rioting is acceptable in a society where there is rule of law.

"Their view is basically is either you give them what they want or they're going to burn it down. Abraham Lincoln addressed the same issue in 1860 in his Cooper Union Speech in New York City where he basically was saying the South, 'either you get your way or you've threatened to leave.' Not the way democracy works." Erickson said.

Going through the legal system and through political bodies is the way Erickson thinks people should do it.

He concedes that the legal and legislative processes are slow, and that a person may not get all they want in court.

"It's better to have the rule of law than the rule of the mob and if the mob is going to rule, we don't want that type of society," Erickson said.

The world has seen videos in recent months of black men and women being targets of police officers with a knee in George Floyd's neck, a no-knock warrant where officers shot Breonna Taylor while she was asleep in her bed, or Sandra Bland in 2015 being pulled over and arrested then found dead in her cell after complying with the police. Still, Erickson believes to comply even after being wronged by a police officer.

"Let's say that you feel that you have been wronged by a police officer, that you've been wronged in a way is that the best time to pick your battle? You have seven cops surrounding you and you're by yourself. Is that the time to really pick your battle?" he asked. "I mean, shouldn't you just restrain yourself? And when you have the opportunity to talk to your attorney, you address it that way. There are better ways to address things and the way we are doing it and our system is set up so people can address things, not to exclude people.

Floyd, Taylor, and Bland didn't get an opportunity to battle it through the courts in a system that was set up to 'not exclude people'.