JEFF GOLDSTEIN: The Age of Boutique Authoritarianism.

Lois Lerner refused to testify before lawmakers for her role in the targeted persecution of TEA Party organizations via her position as IRS Director of tax exempt non-profits, and was voted in contempt of Congress.

Eric Holder refused a Congressional subpoena for documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation that ran guns to Mexican cartel members, ostensibly to track the weapons, one of which was later used to kill US Border Agent Brian Terry.

Neither received any jail time.

FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith intentionally and materially altered an email included in an FBI application to renew a FISA warrant against Carter Page. He was found guilty, but spent no time in prison, receiving probation and community service hours. He has since had his law license reinstated.

James Comey, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page, John Brennan, James Clapper, and the entire Mueller Report team, among others, repeatedly perjured themselves in Congressional testimony. Brennan and Clapper now have contributor gigs at cable news channels; Strzok has filed a wrongful termination suit against the FBI. Mueller’s Report was chastised by the IG’s office for its misleading assertions and its lies by omission, with no apologies amongst the fallout.

And no jail time for any of them.

Today, former Trump advisor Steve Bannon was given a 4-month jail sentence for Contempt of Congress. Bannon initially denied the legitimacy of the Congressional subpoena, citing executive privilege in his role as presidential advisor, but ultimately did testify.

I no longer care what any of you think about Donald Trump. Nor do I care what you think of Bannon, who — full disclosure — invited me to New York for a preview of his Sarah Palin documentary over a decade ago. Neither man is the issue. Roger Stone isn’t the issue, either — whatever you think of him either as a person or a persona. The My Pillow guy? Not the issue.

Instead, the issue is that it is beyond obvious we have a completely politicized system of Justice in which equality before the law is irrelevant, and political prosecutions are becoming the norm under this Administration’s DOJ. AG Merrick Garland recommended a two year sentence for the two NY lawyers who fire bombed a police car — with law enforcement occupants inside — during a BLM protest; meanwhile, the same AG has acquired a 3 1/2 year jail sentence against a 24-year-old UCLA grad for briefly sitting in Mike Pence’s chair on Jan 6. The protestor had committed no violence and destroyed no property.

The disparity in both charging and sentencing is undeniable: Jan 6 defendants charged with parading do prison time. Antifa members who set fire to police barracks or federal courthouses were released en masse, often with financial assistance promoted by the now Vice President, and no charges ultimately brought.

I believe a similar one-sided enfocement of the laws helped provoke the Spanish Civil War.