By Stephen Macaulay

It is fair to say that all readers of The Hustings are law-abiding citizens. Meaning that we don’t do things like shoplift when we go pick up a prescription at CVS — you know, grab a package or razors or a stick of antiperspirant, whatever might not be locked behind a Plexiglas screen.

In fact, most Americans of all walks of life are law-abiding citizens.

So when someone says something about a way to address crime, we are probably interested because when those objects from CVS take the five-finger discount out of the store, we all eventually pay.

Convicted felon Donald Trump announced his plan for reducing theft during a speech in Erie, Pennsylvania, last weekend:

“One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately.”

The “rough hour” would be undertaken by law enforcement.

Presumably some people get pumped up by talk like that. After all, they think, they’re not criminals, they don’t steal things, so why not?

Why not have the people who serve and protect beat the hell out of people so those miscreants will never think about lifting even a free, proffered snack at Costco?

Maybe because it is against the law.

It is really sad that the man who wants to lead the country — a country that was heretofore one where people are expected to abide by the law, even if it means stopping at a red light in the middle of the night on a deserted street — is encouraging people to break the law — people whose job and sworn duty it is to uphold the law.

What if police officers were encouraged not only to smack down shoplifters but even other infractions? Forget the protections of the Fifth Amendment. Wait, that was to be suspended, too, on day one, along with the rest of the founding laws of the U.S.A.

What kind of country would this be? Certainly not the one that one that people have pledged to uphold and defend.

And what’s “Great” about that?