Holy Shit, Curmudge! Here's a little projection of my own: can you imagine how fucked-up things will get if and when these broad blanket pardons become a thing? We will have come full-circle from the moment that we rejected the tyranny of the Crown, once again there will be a distinct class structuring with the government-as-aristocracy …
Holy Shit, Curmudge! Here's a little projection of my own: can you imagine how fucked-up things will get if and when these broad blanket pardons become a thing? We will have come full-circle from the moment that we rejected the tyranny of the Crown, once again there will be a distinct class structuring with the government-as-aristocracy with all of the immunities and benefits of being above the common law.
Pre-pardons do seem like mrna vaccines for Culpability-19. They do not remain at the point of administration, they do not prevent transmission and they do not confer the same lasting protection as infection.
That will make the case for amending the Constitution to remove the pardon power, just as presidential term limits were established because FDR violated that tradition.
FDR was a shoe-in as long as WWII was underway, but the grim reaper stepped in with a 4-term limit. While the Congress was at it (asking too much here...) they should have set the same term-limits for themselves. I only hope that the same rejection of tradition-violation takes hold in respect to Biden's broad pardon schemes. Realistically, probably not even cooked up by Biden.
You are correct about the timeline insofar as our entry into WWII in December 1941. And FDR campaigned for his third term during 1940. However our involvement in WWII was unofficial since its beginning when the Wehrmacht marched across the Polish frontier on 1 Sept. 1939. I needn't attempt to describe here the depth of our involvement prior to Dec. 1941 but when FDR campaigned in 1940 the war was raging in Europe and the Japanese Empire was off and running in Asia, as well. Roosevelt was an extremely popular candidate throughout all four election cycles and perhaps the Great Depression was the single greatest driver (with FDR's New Deal) during the first three cycles. Another war in itself.
We would have watched the war in Europe from the sidelines, there was no public appetite for a replay of WWI. We entered the European theater because Germany, quite inexplicably, declared war on us after we declared war on Japan. FDR was more eager for the ruination of the British Empire than Nazi Germany was.
Holy Shit, Curmudge! Here's a little projection of my own: can you imagine how fucked-up things will get if and when these broad blanket pardons become a thing? We will have come full-circle from the moment that we rejected the tyranny of the Crown, once again there will be a distinct class structuring with the government-as-aristocracy with all of the immunities and benefits of being above the common law.
Pre-pardons do seem like mrna vaccines for Culpability-19. They do not remain at the point of administration, they do not prevent transmission and they do not confer the same lasting protection as infection.
That will make the case for amending the Constitution to remove the pardon power, just as presidential term limits were established because FDR violated that tradition.
FDR was a shoe-in as long as WWII was underway, but the grim reaper stepped in with a 4-term limit. While the Congress was at it (asking too much here...) they should have set the same term-limits for themselves. I only hope that the same rejection of tradition-violation takes hold in respect to Biden's broad pardon schemes. Realistically, probably not even cooked up by Biden.
FDR broke the precedent before we were involved in the war. But the voters are the ones to blame (and the Republicans for their joke of a candidate).
You are correct about the timeline insofar as our entry into WWII in December 1941. And FDR campaigned for his third term during 1940. However our involvement in WWII was unofficial since its beginning when the Wehrmacht marched across the Polish frontier on 1 Sept. 1939. I needn't attempt to describe here the depth of our involvement prior to Dec. 1941 but when FDR campaigned in 1940 the war was raging in Europe and the Japanese Empire was off and running in Asia, as well. Roosevelt was an extremely popular candidate throughout all four election cycles and perhaps the Great Depression was the single greatest driver (with FDR's New Deal) during the first three cycles. Another war in itself.
We would have watched the war in Europe from the sidelines, there was no public appetite for a replay of WWI. We entered the European theater because Germany, quite inexplicably, declared war on us after we declared war on Japan. FDR was more eager for the ruination of the British Empire than Nazi Germany was.
My only objection is your use of the future tense.