Great Argument Topic on Law

Our family has enjoyed National Review Magazine for decades, since before we could afford it. A recent favorite columnist is Mark Steyn, and his article "The West's Metal, And Mettle," provides a hearty paragraph for an essay topic:

Britain's metal crime is a telling image of social disintegration: The very infrastructure of society--the manhole covers, the pipes, the cables on the transportation system, the fittings of the courthouse--is being cannibalized and melted down. When there's no longer a sufficiently strong moral consensus and when the state actively disapproves of a self-reliant citizenry, what's left is the law. And law detached from any other social pillars is not enough,
and never can be.

("Happy Warrior," National Review, November 19, 2007, p. 68)