“Every government always has enemies. Our government at this moment is no exception. We have more just now than is usual, and if they are in the pay of the revolutionary authorities of Russia, as I believe to be the case, the danger is somewhat greater than in normal times simply because these enemies to-day are better financed than usual. Even so, I do not regard the menace as genuinely serious…It is right to punish overt acts, but the only way to deal with beliefs is to meet them, to expose their fallacy, to present the facts which prove them wrong. This is the American way” — Governor Calvin Coolidge, 1919.

This is why as a State Senator he would confront with law lines of propaganda that endorsed racial and class preferences. This is why as a Governor he spoke up for Americans’ rights to a law-abiding and due process government. This is why as President he pardoned Wilson’s political prisoners, opposed wiretapping and entrapment procedures and refused all attempts to “play favorites” or target enemies with the enforcement of the law. He knew such measures were an abhorrent dereliction of his duty, an abuse of his office and a perversion of justice.

The current regime in Washington, failing to respect law itself, is not merely suffering from an eroded “trust factor,” as former DOD Secretary Rumsfeld said this week, it has more than proven unworthy of the trust it has left, let alone an ounce of good faith in its honest intentions going into the future. The sanctity of the law, justly applied, demands it. The current regime, living in defiance of America’s respect for law (as it impartially binds all alike), are ideological enemies of that ideal and fail to realize that the law cuts both ways. They will not succeed in flouting that law forever.