To the editor:

Your editorial on the safety of some Chinese products (“Quality question,” June 28) underscores an important reason for our country’s success: the effectiveness of our public structures.

The public structures we have created – such as consumer safety regulations, highways, laws, schools – are the machinery that produces America’s success. Without those public structures it would be difficult to get a lot of things done that Kansans believe are important, including protecting our children or providing for their education.

Our strength as a nation comes not just from what we achieve as individuals but what we accomplish when we work together. China provides us a cautionary example of what can happen when the greed of a few trumps common sense regulations designed to protect and benefit the majority.

Gary Brunk,

Lawrence