Public Stonings are Not "Accountability"
The high-speed demolition of Eric Swalwell is being celebrated as appropriate "accountability," but removing due process isn't justice
Headline from The Intercept:
SWIFT SWALWELL FALLOUT SUGGESTS THE DEMOCRATS HAVE FINALLY LEARNED FROM EPSTEIN
I can’t stand Eric Swalwell. A leading torchbearer in Russiagate lore, he’s always carried himself with an air of oozy self-satisfaction unusual even in a politician. I remember wondering if Swalwell was Latin for “Stubble Lizard.”
Still, what’s happening with him is insanity, not progress. The timeline was amazing. Last week, two exposés came out detailing abuse allegations. The first, in the San Francisco Chronicle, was based on the account of a woman who “worked for nearly two years” with Swalwell and “alleged he twice sexually assaulted her when she was too intoxicated to consent.” That same night, CNN came out with a more detailed version, but used the phrase “raped her while she was intoxicated” and added complaints of three other women.
That was Friday. Saturday, elected Democrats abandoned him en masse. He dropped out of the California gubernatorial race Sunday. Monday, the Manhattan DA opened a criminal investigation and as the House Ethics Committee prepared a probe, Swalwell resigned from the House, going from Congressman to corpse in less than 72 hours.
There has since been a graphic new allegation and the resignation of Republican Tony Gonzales, but also a rising subtext few are talking about, leading to what commentators are calling a “rare expulsion wave” for other unnamed members, and not just accused sex offenders. This is thanks to the idea lauded in the Intercept story, namely that because Americans are clamoring for “accountability” they feel is lacking in the Jeffrey Epstein drama, it’s appropriate to speed punishment for Swalwell and others.
Democratic strategist Nina Smith said advocacy from Epstein victims “created this watershed moment… to address this issue quickly.” Pennsylvania’s Summer Lee added, “The work and bravery of Epstein’s survivors… expose just how deeply these systems are… protecting perpetrators with money, connections, or status,” adding, “That legacy demands more from all of us right now.” The idea that Swalwell isn’t an individual but belongs to a generally under-punished group — not a him but a them — is everywhere. “Clean house. Expel them. Hold every last one accountable,” said Republican Nancy Mace. “The American people are watching.”
Punishing one person faster to make up for perceived slowness in other cases is the opposite of justice, which by definition has to be particularized. It’s the type of thinking Nuremberg prosecutors worked to avoid, and what Arthur Miller riffed on in The Crucible when he had his Judge Danforth say, “We burn a hot fire here; it melts down all concealment.” Searching around for logs to feed the heat of public frustration is justice in reverse. Democrats should know better. The last time they denounced one of their own during a panic, it ended in fiasco:
