Recently, a letter writer referred to the French Revolution as a murderous event, but it produced the Universal Rights of Man before it was hijacked into tragedy.
Your letter romanticizes the French Revolution’s early Declaration of the Rights of Man and “Live Free or Die” idealism before it was “hijacked.” The hijacking was inevitable. It arrived with the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre’s dictatorial “Engine of the Terror”. In the name of virtue and public safety, it centralized power, passed the Law of Suspects, branded opponents “enemies of the people,” and ran revolutionary tribunals that executed thousands for suspected disloyalty, wrong opinions, or insufficient zeal. Former allies were devoured. The rights rhetoric became a corpse. Slavery returned. Napoleon followed.
This is the behavioral model now embraced by today’s progressive Democrats and institutional left:
Enemies of Democracy: Routine labeling of conservatives, MAGA supporters, parents, and dissenters as “threats to democracy” and “extremists” to justify lawfare, selective prosecution, intelligence abuses, and censorship.
Purity Tribunals: Rolling tests of ideological loyalty — on race, gender, climate, DEI — with cancellation, deplatforming, and professional destruction for deviation. Allies are purged when they fall behind the spiral.
Centralized “Safety” Power: Perpetual emergencies (pandemic, climate, disinformation) used to expand administrative control, bypass norms, and pressure institutions into enforcing conformity, two-tiered justice, and a willingness to end the Filibuster, end the Electoral College, pack the SCOTUS, adopt DC & PR as (Democrat) States, and amnesty for all illegal aliens.
The French Revolution didn’t gently slip. The Committee revealed its logic: abstract “rights” + moral vanguard + eroded guardrails = authoritarianism.
Republicans and classical Liberals: This is the one-way bobsled. Defend the American guardrails — equal rule of law, free speech, due process, separation of powers, and federalism — or watch today’s Committee-style instincts replace ordered liberty with institutional blades. History’s warning is clear and has been repeated: revolutions chasing perfect virtue end in tyranny, not freedom.
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
(1) comment
Your letter romanticizes the French Revolution’s early Declaration of the Rights of Man and “Live Free or Die” idealism before it was “hijacked.” The hijacking was inevitable. It arrived with the Committee of Public Safety, Robespierre’s dictatorial “Engine of the Terror”. In the name of virtue and public safety, it centralized power, passed the Law of Suspects, branded opponents “enemies of the people,” and ran revolutionary tribunals that executed thousands for suspected disloyalty, wrong opinions, or insufficient zeal. Former allies were devoured. The rights rhetoric became a corpse. Slavery returned. Napoleon followed.
This is the behavioral model now embraced by today’s progressive Democrats and institutional left:
Enemies of Democracy: Routine labeling of conservatives, MAGA supporters, parents, and dissenters as “threats to democracy” and “extremists” to justify lawfare, selective prosecution, intelligence abuses, and censorship.
Purity Tribunals: Rolling tests of ideological loyalty — on race, gender, climate, DEI — with cancellation, deplatforming, and professional destruction for deviation. Allies are purged when they fall behind the spiral.
Centralized “Safety” Power: Perpetual emergencies (pandemic, climate, disinformation) used to expand administrative control, bypass norms, and pressure institutions into enforcing conformity, two-tiered justice, and a willingness to end the Filibuster, end the Electoral College, pack the SCOTUS, adopt DC & PR as (Democrat) States, and amnesty for all illegal aliens.
The French Revolution didn’t gently slip. The Committee revealed its logic: abstract “rights” + moral vanguard + eroded guardrails = authoritarianism.
Republicans and classical Liberals: This is the one-way bobsled. Defend the American guardrails — equal rule of law, free speech, due process, separation of powers, and federalism — or watch today’s Committee-style instincts replace ordered liberty with institutional blades. History’s warning is clear and has been repeated: revolutions chasing perfect virtue end in tyranny, not freedom.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.