The Wolves Will Become Sheep

When some people acquire power, they act like wolves. They take whatever savage actions are needed to win and dominate. They turn their opponents and critics into sheep, who learn to be quiet or face vicious attacks and destruction.

Think of Joseph Stalin killing his rivals. Think of the Castro brothers torturing, imprisoning and exiling political opponents. Consider the decay of Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe, as political opponents were imprisoned, killed and exiled. Recall the ruthlessness of Hugo Chavez in taking over Venezuela. He destroyed or exiled middle-class opponents. Meanwhile, the militia was cheerful about using force to destroy the middle class, which had created a successful, wealthy Venezuela.

The United States has had relatively few bouts of wolf-like behavior, because the separation of powers woven into the constitutional fabric of our federal government, as well as the federalism that exists between the federal and state governments, have made it impossible to sustain wolf-like behavior. The American people routinely reject overreaching politicians, the U.S. Supreme Court limits the ability of the executive branch to overreach and the states retain so much power and independence that their leaders can limit the ability of Washington wolves in overreaching.

We are currently living through a moment of delusion among Democrats, who seem to think they can behave like wolves and destroy and intimidate their Republican opponents. The wolves who currently dominate the Democratic Party think they will be permanent wolves. They are wrong. The 2022 midterm election will turn the Democratic wolves into sheep—and the power to shear the sheep will be handed over to House Republicans.

Watching the increasingly vicious and destructive actions of the House Democrats—along with the handful of Republican enablers on the January 6 Select Committee—combined with the astonishing viciousness of President Joe Biden‘s speeches at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and in Atlanta on January 11, as well as Attorney General Merrick Garland‘s speeches and actions, has been the most sobering period in my more than 60 years in public life.

We now have a president and an attorney general who see at least half the country as their enemies. They are focused on attacking, smearing and defaming fellow Americans with whom they disagree. More frighteningly, the attorney general has the power to direct the FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Offices to frame people and put them in jail on the most trivial of charges.

The January 6 Select Committee is in the process of potentially bankrupting scores of Americans who worked for or supported President Trump. They face financial ruin defending themselves against the committee’s attack. The legal costs of fighting subpoenas and the further cost of legal counsel if put under oath by a hostile congressional committee creates a real burden. That financial burden is compounded by the psychological stress of being under assault by the House Democrats—and potentially also the FBI.