The Harder They Fall

[Ernest Partridge]

Oderint Dum Metuant: "Let them hate you so long as they fear you.” (Lucius Accius, 2nd Century, BC).
Fear secures the rule of most despots. And when that fear erodes and hatred takes over, the despot is overthrown.

Such is likely to be the fate of Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.

Christie is renowned as a “control freak.” Even so, as Richard Nixon learned to his sorrow, events often have a way of eventually taking control. With “Bridgegate,” events have forced the initiative from the Governor’s office into the hands of the investigating committees of the New Jersey Legislature and the United State Congress. Perhaps for the first time in his incumbency, Chris Christie is on the defensive. Not an enviable position for a controlling bully.

History provides numerous examples of events spinning out of control, leading to unexpected and unintended consequences. At first, the American revolutionaries thought of themselves as loyal Englishmen, seeking redress from their Sovereign. But after the shots were fired at Lexington and Concord, the die was cast and there was no turning back.

Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, one in eight East German citizens were informants for the Stasi. But when the people poured into the streets and the army refused to fire on them, the regime was finished.

Similarly in the Soviet Union. Mikhail Gorbachev, to his everlasting credit, decided that the time had come to release the nations of Eastern Europe from Soviet captivity. What he had not expected was that the wave of national independence would extend within the borders of the Soviet Union and include fourteen of the fifteen Soviet republics. But when a few Communist apparachiki attempted to overthrow Gorbachev, ordinary Russian citizens (including several of my personal friends) filled the streets of Moscow, Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), and other cities. And when, as in East Germany, the Red Army refused to fire on the protesters, the coup collapsed.

A year or two before the collapse of communism in eastern Europe, and then of the Soviet Union itself, the American military-industrial complex and the militant Right believed implicitly that the Cold War was a permanent condition of global politics. The ensuing events were simply unthinkable.

And so on – in British India, the American South, South Africa. The impossible becomes possible, and then inevitable. As Gandhi observed: “ First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

It appears that the Christie may be at, or beyond, such a tipping point, following which there is no return.
Like most despots, Chris Christie is merciless. He has shown no concern whatever for the collateral damage of his vendettas. Not for the residents of Jersey City or Hoboken, whose Mayors chose not to endorse him. And not for the commuters, school children, and EMS victims of Bergen County. His victims are many: the school teachers of New Jersey, numerous officials and politicians including the aforementioned mayors. Now that the Bully is losing his grip, it is time at last for these victims to turn on him. And you can count on it. They will.

Will Bridget Kelly and other Christie's former deputies, once steadfastly loyal and obedient, silently tolerate the insult and humiliation that Christie is now piling on them? Not likely.

When forced to testify, will they choose full disclosure over prison? Is there a John Dean among them? Probably.
Will Christie and his lawyers be able to stifle or destroy all evidence linking the scandals to the Governor? In this age of e-mails, copiers, smart-phone cameras and YouTube, Probably not.

Chris Christie is finished. He will be out of office within the year.

Oligarchs take note. Your turn may be next. You may own the Congress, the Courts, the Media, and most of the nation’s wealth. But for every one of you there are several hundred of the rest of us – your victims.

A revolution is inevitable. Let us hope and pray that it will be peaceful. FDR, Gandhi, King, Gorbachev, Sakharov, and Mandela have led the way.

“The people, united, cannot be defeated.”

Ernest Partridge, Co-Editor
The Crisis Papers
www.crisispapers.org

[monmouth3]

1. Great read and thank you for posting. Also, what happened to John Dean, what is he doing these

days. Always liked him when he was on Keith's show...

[libdem4life]

2. K & R

[jaysunb]

3. "He will be out of office within the year"

I hope it's sooner so that we can concentrate on the 2014 elections.

[identify]

4. inevitability

The question now is just how devastating the fall will be for Christie and by extension- the GOP "like a garbage truck thrown from the top of the empire state building"

Cue 'The End' by The Doors.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

5. chri$tie covers his tracks better than Moriaty!

But in calling Moriarty a criminal you are uttering libel in the eyes of the law—and there lie the glory and the wonder of it! The greatest schemer of all time, the organizer of every deviltry, the controlling brain of the underworld, a brain which might have made or marred the destiny of nations—that’s the man! But so aloof is he from general suspicion, so immune from criticism, so admirable in his management and self-effacement, that for those very words that you have uttered he could hale you to a court and emerge with your year’s pension as a solatium for his wounded character. Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it? Is this a man to traduce? Foulmouthed doctor and slandered professor—such would be your respective roles! That’s genius, Watson.

—Holmes, The Valley of Fear

[trusty elf]

6. ....................

[IMG][/IMG]

[calimary]

7. Wow! Welcome to DU, Ernest Partridge!

Very glad you're here! I've enjoyed reading your Crisis Papers. This is cool, just in general, but also this particular column. And I hope its predictions are correct! And I also wonder who among those under subpoena will give up the ghost, as it were? Wonder if David Samson is making "arrangements" to supply financial support and future employment for them should they have to pay any serious price? After all, if they take a fall and he's spared, isn't he still in charge of enough big-ticket commissions and offices and legal/financial concerns into which they could be absorbed? "Keep your mouth SHUT. And don't worry if you have to resign. You'll be taken care of." Funny - this may force a handful of the 1% to become actual job creators!

[Stuart G]

8. I am glad Gorbachev is mentioned here. Why?

As this says.."to his everlasting credit".. "release the nations of Eastern Europe" Why? Because he could have used the Soviet Army, and caused a bloodbath among bloodbaths. He did not. . Would Stalin have done that? How about Khrushchev? No. But Mikhail Gorbachev did not use the army in a way that others would have. In the end, the countries still might have escaped. But at what cost? I read somewhere there was a terrible earthquake in the Soviet Union that killed hundreds and because of a broken system, relief came too late, much too late to save many more. This moment with the earthquake convinced Gorbachev that the system was broken. It was time to change and let it go.. I don't know if that is true, but there were no wars in letting Eastern European nations gain their freedom. No, it was not Ronald Regan, he did nothing but look. Gorbachev made the difficult decision not to fight, and he could have. And he decided to fight that movement, it would have cost thousands of lives, perhaps many more.