“…Despotism…is the same in a Majority of a popular Assembly, an Aristocratical Counsel, an Oligarchical Junto and a single Emperor. Equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody and in every respect, diabolical.”
-Letter from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson, November 13, 1815.
An appropriate thought for this November 13, a day on which, do not doubt, Democrat leadership in the House of Representatives are wracking their brains for a scheme which will allow them to drag the rotting corpse of the Progressives’ “Build Back Better” bill across the finish line.
To enact this sack of legislative compost with its union kickbacks; cash for cronies; subsidies for millionaires and billionaires in high-tax states; amnesty for illegal residents despite the Senate parliamentarian’s prohibitions and a huge inflationary kick in the teeth for the rest of us peasants, look for those leaders to resort to legislative tricks like the “Slaughter Rule” which they attempted to foist onto Congress in March, 2010 to “deem” Obamacare passed without the formality of a Senate vote. The rule was withdrawn after House leadership was threatened with a lawsuit by the Landmark Legal Foundation, but the principle – and the leader who cooked it up – are once again in the driver’s seat in the House. They’ll try it again, or something equally devious and unconstitutional, because neither the Constitution nor Thomas Jefferson’s admonition that “Great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities” matter a damn to today’s Democrats.
There’s a country to smash so that it can be rebuilt into the People’s Perfect Paradise promised by the likes of Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. These, as well as Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and his crew of America-hating wreckers and the bulk of the hard-left politicians masquerading as Democrats realize they have little time left to accomplish their goals, so expect underhandedness, legislative and not.
The show trials have already begun, and with them a more politicized Department of Justice has appeared as well. Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder defied a Congressional subpoena for years; Trump advisors and partisans subpoenaed by Congressional Democrats “investigating” the January 6 Capitol riot are threatened by the formerly so-called “moderate” Merrick Garland with jail time if they do not comply, pronto. They may soon join others held for participating in the January 6 event, some for eight months or more. Those with a memory for these things may recall that the Constitution declares that “The writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended” except in cases of “Rebellion and invasion,” neither of which have been declared, nor will be. That’s Article I, Section 9, Clause 2, if one wishes to look. While there, check out Amendment 6, which states “”In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury.” The imprisonment of hundreds of American citizens for an indefinite period, mostly on charges of trespass, is clearly unconstitutional. Democrats don’t care, because the “right people” are imprisoned. Americans who value their freedom should.
Meanwhile “Project Veritas,” a media organization which has investigated many of the illegalities perpetuated by the administrative state in its vendetta against the last president, has now been raided by the FBI, apparently searching for a diary belonging to President Biden’s daughter. As yet, no crime has been alleged. Perhaps the FBI were performing the same sort of search they did when they tried to clean up evidence that Hunter Biden lied on a Federal firearms form regarding his handgun his girlfriend at the time threw away behind a restaurant in Wilmington. Again, the use of Federal law enforcement for political and personal ends is the hallmark of a totalitarian state, not a republic – even the banana republic we seem to have become nowadays.
All of these moments offer a glimpse of the reality behind the glittering promises of the Progressives’ authoritarian future. Disregard for the law, dismissal of long-honored limits and traditions, use of force to punish political enemies and to hide “inconvenient facts,” establishment of one-party rule. And if you don’t like it, you’re a racist. Or – to use that old term of art dear to authoritarians – an unperson. Whose job it is to disappear as soon as possible. With help, where required.
“Arbitrary, cruel, bloody and in every respect, diabolical.” Well said, President Adams. And quite true.
