April 3, 2023
A nation dragged across the Rubicon
By Glenn Spitzer
We finally crossed the Rubicon.
While unstable societies regularly resort to political prosecution, stable societies understand intuitively that this crude power tactic must be avoided at all costs. That's why, despite being a wildly unpopular decision, Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon — to avoid any potential threat of prosecution.
Once the threat of political prosecution enters into the public psyche as a legitimate tool to solve conflicts of power at the highest level, all bets are off. Society shifts from one in which ends are achieved through negotiation into one in which ends are achieved through raw power. Our leaders quickly come to understand that the only rule that matters in politics is "might makes right."
What is a political prosecution? You always know it because, unlike with other prosecutions, people support or oppose it along party lines. The crimes are vague and difficult to explain. The outcomes are predetermined. The whole process appears steeped in ends-oriented justice.
There are many modern examples of powerful civilizations devolving into terror immediately following the normalization of political prosecution. Political prosecution became the norm immediately following the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution. When the Third Reich gained sufficient control over Germany's government, its leaders also initiated political prosecutions.
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https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/04/a_nation_dragged_across_the_rubicon.html
