Republicans won't let hypocrisy get in the way of a little tyranny

The right’s reflexive defense is ‘they did it first,’ putting us in a downward spiral

- JONAH GOLDBERG

THE ADMINISTRATION is threatening to send Guard troops to Baltimore, Chicago and New York, as it did to D.C. and L.A.

EVEN BEFORE America became a country, Americans already had a habit of freaking out about even minor violations of abstract principles.

"In other countries, the people ... judge of an ill principle in government only by an actual grievance," observed Edmund Burke, the great British statesman and philosopher, in 1775. But in America, "they anticipate the evil, and judge of the pressure of the grievance by the badness of the principle. They augur misgovernment at a distance; and snuff the approach of tyranny in every tainted breeze." America's obsession with slippery slopes used to frustrate me. I support gun rights but bans on machine guns or bump stocks do not overly trouble me. I'm a passionate defender of parental rights, but child abuse is intolerable. I think political speech is inviolate, but obscenity laws are fine by me.

The response to such nuance was often, "If the government can do this, what's to stop it from doing [insert something much, much worse]." My answer was usually "us" i.e. Americans. Voters, politicians, intellectuals, et al. can make distinctions based on context, reason and culture that still respect a principle. The trick, however, requires respecting the principle, even when inconvenient.