To the editor:

I was driving downtown the other day and came to an intersection with a stop light. All the drivers waited their turns and proceeded as the lights directed. I thought this was nice. Very nice. At some point we as a society decided that we want to encourage safety and efficiency in driving. Thus, among other things, the stop light. It’s really pretty simple. Remember, red means stop, and you should know the color meaning go is green. We, society, did that pretty well.

We have done similar things with other situations. For example, long ago we decided that the king doesn’t have the right to lock someone up in the tower or elsewhere without a good reason. The person who has been sent to jail has the right to go before a presumably impartial judge while the king, or his representatives, explain why the person was arrested. It’s really pretty simple.

I would like a chance to explain this to our president. One problem, of course, is that he has not driven a car in years, if ever, so he has not had that opportunity to learn about obeying rules. Also, he does have difficulty understanding that he can’t always have his way. (Our society has recognized this actually is a common problem. That’s one reason we have pre-schools and kindergartens.) Well, suppose we can’t teach him. Thank goodness we have judges who can insist on the law and legislators who, theoretically, can establish limits and guidelines. We’ll be watching.

Joe Douglas,

Lawrence