Letter to the Editor: The Rioters Must Be Careful What They Riot For

The rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6 would most universally agree that they would prefer that the U.S. have a much more conservative government. However, they should be very thankful that the U.S. government is not highly conservative.

Conservative governments around the world, such as those in Russia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, universally do not follow the “rule of law.” The rule of law restricts the arbitrary exercise of power by subordinating it to well-defined and established laws.

A characteristic of highly conservative countries is that the leadership of those countries consistently practices the arbitrary exercise of power and ignores laws whenever it suits its needs.

In a truly conservative country, the Jan. 6 rioters who took part in a treasonous coup attempt to take down the government would all have been executed by now. In some conservative countries, they would have been hustled through mock trials in which the verdict was predetermined. In others, they would simply have disappeared during the night, never to be seen again.

The planners of the coup – Trump and his inner circle – would have been thrown in jail, where they would stay until their most extreme followers had either been executed or jailed, and the general public had largely forgotten about them. Then they would die of mysterious natural causes.

That is the way things work in highly conservative countries. Anyone who does not understand that has very little knowledge of history and world affairs. Conservatives, be careful what you wish for!

Charles Frisk

Green Bay, Wisconsin