Thread by @hilzoy

So: I like to read history. And if you read enough history, you realize that even systems of government that look permanent are not.

Oceans rise. Empires fall.

You also realize that things like the rule of law and peace are not the natural human condition.

https://twitter.com/JeffSharlet/status/1223226936215863297

2/ For most of human history, we lived under what were basically glorified gangs defending their turf. Some had pretenses to virtue, and sometimes they even tried to live up to them. But generally life under those governments was horrible.

3/ I have always thought of the rule of law, in particular, as a kind of miracle.

What could be more natural, if you have power, than to use it to protect yourself and your friends, and to go after your enemies?

4/ It's so obvious. And replacing that with a set of norms that are followed often enough that we can say that "the rule of law" obtains is incredibly difficult.

As with so many things, much harder to build up than to tear down.

5/ That we live in a country that has a tradition of the rule of law, and a Constitution that allows us to choose our own leaders, is a precious inheritance.

This is so even despite the huge ways in which we failed to live up to our ideals.

6/ If you read history, you can sometimes see the chain of stupid mistakes that lead to the downfall of a country or a regime.

One of the things I found shattering about Trump's election was that he was so clueless and incurious that he was bound to make many such mistakes.

7/ But his supporters didn't care. I guess they assume that our government is eternal, that there are no mistakes that we cannot recover from, that unlike EVERY SOCIETY IN HISTORY, we get to make mistakes without paying the price.

8/ As though Making America Great just required hats, not, you know, an actual EFFORT to figure out what greatness was, and how we might make our country live up to its best ideals.

9/ But what was worse -- MUCH worse -- was that they did not seem bothered by his disregard for the law.

To me, the rule of law is the precondition for almost every good thing in a society. As I said earlier, it's not natural to us, and it must be maintained.

10/ To maintain the rule of law, you need people who are willing to uphold the law even when it requires sacrifice. And you also require enough people who, when they see others behaving lawlessly, shame them.

11/ Apparently, our Senators -- even Senators who are old and rich and retiring, like Lamar Alexander -- do not think our Constitution and the rule of law are worth even a small sacrifice.

And it is small, compared to the sacrifice made by people who fought to gain liberty.

12/ Not getting put on some wingnut welfare board of directors, when you're already very rich, is a very small sacrifice.

Apparently, to some of the GOP Senators, that's a sacrifice they're not willing to make.

(Note: "some" bc I suppose some genuinely buy T's argument.)

13/ I don't think that tomorrow we will be a full-fledged dictatorship, or any such thing.

I do think that the rule of law is almost infinitely precious, that we need to maintain and strengthen it, and that a moajority of our political leaders are willing to throw it away.

14/ And that's a terrible, terrible thing.

Again: read history.