1) "didn't hurt anyone": Sokol learned about Lubrizol while on his duties at Berkshire. After all, that's what Berkshire pays him for, to research interesting investment opportunities. By buying before Berkshire, he front-runned the firm using Berkshire's private information (aka, what he knew as #2 in the firm).
2) "trading laws should be abolished... insider trading helps.. individual investors" There are some academics that think so, but the academic consensus is in the other way. For instance, several studies have shown that on the days were insider trading is less likely to ocurr, bid-ask spreads are lower.