Sippenhaft

This was the policy in '30s Germany of assuming that if someone was disloyal, then the disloyalty must run in the family, therefore the whole family needed to be eradicated. Today, the Chicago version of this is to find people who donate to the "wrong" party and single them out for abuse.

The first instance of this to get wide coverage was the raid on the Gibson guitar factory on the premise that they use protected wood without jumping through all the hoops. The raid confiscated a lot of expensive wood, and all the computers and records from the plant. Imagine trying to run a plant without all your billing and payroll stuff.

The real problem was that Gibson was 1) non-union, and 2) the CEO had donated to the McCain campaign.

The Martin Guitar Co. uses the same products but since it's union and donates to Democrats, no problemo.

Now the Feds are suggesting that if any artist performs outside the U.S. , their Gibson guitars will be subject to confiscation when they try to re-enter the country.

2012: Not just an election, it's a restraining order.