Sublime

philosophers, called tyranny. They had in mind the usurpation of power by a single individual or group, or the circumvention of law by rulers for their own benefit. Much of the succeeding political debate in the United States has concerned the problem of tyranny within American society: over slaves and women, for example.

In effect, the president, quite aware of his and his staff’s inexperience in drafting legislation (in fact, nobody on his senior staff had any experience at all), decided to outsource his agenda—and to a heretofore archenemy. Watching Ryan steal the legislative initiative during the transition,

After those telegrams, the White House had an accurate impression of Sam Rayburn as a Garner supporter, but it also had a false impression of Rayburn as Roosevelt’s enemy, as a leader not only of the Garner campaign but of the whole Stop Roosevelt movement, as the enemy of the man he not only idolized but whom he had, on a hundred occasions, loyall

For the New Right, so-called “conservatives” have been willful or witless dupes of the left for decades. In contemporary terms, examples include Mitt Romney delivering to Massachusetts what would become the basis for Obamacare, President Bush appointing David Souter to the Supreme Court, and John McCain sponsoring campaign finance “reform.”

Aujourd’hui au contraire, la logique répressive dominante est celle de la dépolitisation, qui consiste à ne pas considérer officiellement les militant.e.s comme des « politiques ».

“Power always thinks it has a great Soul, and vast Views, beyond the Comprehension of the Weak, and that it is doing God’s Service, when it is violating all his Laws.” —John Adams1

Cela n’a pas toujours été le cas, car deux logiques punitives peuvent exister ou se superposer en fonction des configurations politiques et judiciaires : la logique de politisation de la répression et celle de la dépolitisation non seulement des dispositifs répressifs mais également des engagements militants.