Member-only story
Escaping Authoritarianism
Our nation is in steep decline. We tried to shoot the king and we missed. Woe to us.
I just saw a story in the NYT (and yes, I know fake news from real news, know how to vette a story and publication) that said the DOJ (that’s Bill Barr’s personal, Trump ass-saving war room) was looking to interfere in the sentencing of Roger Stone who was found guilty of seven counts of sabotaging Congressional investigations of Trump. Those investigations are supposed to be a firewall against authoritarianism. The DOJ interceding to shorten the sentence is authoritarianism in practice. Today the President says he’s not ready to say “yet” that he’ll pardon Stone.
Love him or hate him, the current President has broken all the norms of the office, has broken the law but has figured out how to get a permanent get out of jail card while President, and thumbs his nose by taking retribution against all who get in his way. Bully pulpit has never been more true.
The problem with authoritarians is that they tear down institutions and insert themselves as the foundation. That’s not good in a democratic republic. Sinclair Lewis foretold this in his great book — Elmer Gantry. The point of the book is the rise…
