The criminalization of politics and the fall of the Roman Republic

Paul Mirengoff argues that the Federal conviction of ex VA governor Bob McConnell for taking money in exchange for official acts on the company's behalf is skirting dangerously towards criminalizing politics.

But how does one distinguish these offenses from the common situation in which individuals, companies, and unions give candidates substantial amounts of money in the hope that they will favor them in some fashion? In theory, the distinction turns on whether the recipient accepts the donation with the understanding that he or she will perform official acts in exchange.

The problem, as professor Bellin observes, is that a jury is permitted to infer such an understanding from circumstantial evidence. If the jury thinks it sees “knowing winks and nods” (these words actually appear in the jury instructions in McDonnell’s case), it can render a verdict that will send the public official to prison for a long time.

The “knowing winks and nods” standard, if one can even call it one, leaves prosecutors with enormous discretion to go after public officials they dislike for personnel reasons or want to injure for political purposes. The ridiculous, politically-motivated attempts to portray Governors Rick Perry and Scott Walker as criminals demonstrates that prosecutors will take advantage of this opening.

As was true with Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Rick Perry in Texas, Bob McConnell was a lightning rod for the left who wanted him punished.  Unlike Walker and Perry, McConnell was targeted by the Federal Government whose laws - how do I put this politely - leave a lot to be desired in their opaqueness and breadth suitable for prosecutorial abuse.  They call this lawfare and to this point it's been used by Dems on Republicans but it won't stay that way.  Every ugliness gets open sourced by everyone on the race to the bottom;

And then of course we have the example of the Roman Republic:  the Republic fell when leading political actors concluded that to lose office would result in their prosecution and downfall.  Once men like Caesar and Pompey realized that they could no longer survive a political loss the blood flowed like a river. If that happens here.....well we've got much more dangerous weapons than swords and arrows.