h/t InstapunditOften there seem to be international trends in response to historical forces, trends that then create their own historical forces. The age of 20th Century dictators, for example. Later, the resurgence of conservatism in Reagan and Thatcher. Then, a reaction by the left. And now we have the hand of elites clamping down on the unwashed populaces who would reduce their power.
In the US, it’s evidenced by the no-hold-barred fight to destroy Trump. In western Europe, there’s the EU against the people of many countries, in particular the UK’s Brexit movement. And in Israel there’s the prosecution of Netanyahu, which Caroline Glick describes this way:
See yesterday's full post
I note several things, one of which is the participation of Alan Dershowitz, who seems to be fighting this fight on several fronts. Another is the more general idea that one of the ways that the elites are fighting back is through lawfare (something we already know) but in particular through the redefinition of politics as a form of corruption. For those of whom they approve, no act is bad enough to prosecute, but for those they wish to remove, actions that would never have previously been defined as corrupt are now defined that way and the legal system is the means to accomplish their aims.
For example, the Israeli left's successful assassination of Ariel Sharon - causing him a stroke - by convicting and jailing his son for campaign finance violations that were ignored in the case of the Labor Party
This parallels the manner in which the legal system manned by liberal judges has been used to circumvent the people’s reluctance or slowness on certain issues in the recent past. One was abortion, of course. Another was gay marriage. State-by-state solutions and decisions were not allowed, and new constitutional rights were created by liberal justices impatient with the pace of change. The time-tested process of using amendments to the Constitution to effect change is considered too tedious and democratic as well.