And stop saying “how about just murder?” No. It’s a systematic state action targeting civilians. It’s far worse.

The Constitution was designed around the assumption that the US government was going to be composed of men who would kill each other over slights to their honor. And it worked for a long time because the assumed checks and balances based on greedily protecting individual power transitioned to norms.

America has long feared it would suffer the same fate as the Roman republic, but never quite truly appreciated how utterly absurd Roman elites had become by the time of the late republic.