It shouldn’t have to get to this point, but here it goes: We need a written pledge to protect our statues and monuments. That is, a written document for politicians to sign, if they wish, pledging to protect public order and the dignity of our society.

Yes, of course, desecration and destruction are already illegal, but as we know, many elected officials have chosen to turn a blind eye — or, in some cases, have actively supported — vandalism of statues and monuments. .

For his part, Donald Trump has an answer. He wants to defend the statues, even if, of course, he has not always been able to (it’s a big country).

Is that a fair charge against a hypothetical President Biden? We don’t know, of course, because Biden is not in the White House — although polls indicate that he could be. And in the meantime, we certainly do know that other Democrats aren’t trying very hard to protect public order

In such a situation, we need clarity. We need to find out: Who’s on the side of public order, and who’s on the side of disorder? 

So to help bring about that clarity, let’s make it a clear test: Let’s boil down the idea of public order into a binary choice, a simple “yes” or “no.” Indeed, let’s turn it into a pledge to put before politicians, incumbents and challengers alike

To be sure, not every politician will sign the pledge; in fact, it’s likely that many won’t. Yet of course, during this current spree of vandalizing violence, to not sign a pledge to uphold order is, in fact, to be making a plain-as-day statement — that one is soft on, or perhaps even supportive of, vandalistic violence. 

So presumably many politicians, especially at the state and federal level, would be happy to sign such a pledge — and if they don’t, well, the voters might be happy to learn the name of his or her opponent in the next election