A year and a half ago, most Americans were surprised when then-Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens was indicted on felony charges for invasion of privacy. The charges stemmed from an extramarital affair and eventually drove Greitens out of office.

But that case fell apart. It wasn’t even a week after the resignation that the charges were dropped. But the damage was already done — even without proof of wrongdoing outside adultery: Greitens, once a rising star, was now out of office in disgrace.

Unlike Spygate, we’re seeing some measure of accountability with the investigator facing multiple felony perjury charges and a charge of tampering with evidence. But this is still part of a very disturbing trend.

We’re not just talking Spygate. We’re talking Lois Lerner and the IRS scandal, John Doe abuses in Wisconsin, and Andrew Cuomo’s attacks on the National Rifle Association in New York. Elizabeth Warren also vowed to sic the IRS on the NRA.

We could go further back in time. There was the dubious indictment of Tom DeLay in 2006. DeLay eventually was cleared after a years-long legal battle, but again note that, once indicted, he was forced out as House majority leader. The GOP lost a very capable legislative strategist just before the Obama years.

There were also threats by state attorneys general to use RICO against so-called “climate deniers.” In reality, the “crime” was opposing the ecofascists’ agenda.

The pattern is pretty clear — leftists are willing to use government power against those who oppose their agenda. This isn’t to necessarily obtain court convictions, although actually jailing some conservatives would likely please the increasingly totalitarian Left in this country. That’s just a bonus.

The real goal is to remove particularly effective Republicans and Patriots from the debate, either through dubious indictments or by using politically motivated investigations. This creates a cloud of suspicion over opponents of various left-wing causes and forces targets to spend time, money, and energy defending themselves instead of promoting Liberty. The application of this very strategy against the NRA by Cuomo and New York Attorney General Letitia James is one of the big reasons why the 2018 and 2019 elections went so badly for Republicans.

In essence, the investigations don’t become a means to determine if any wrongdoing happened; instead, it turns process and procedure into a form of punishment in and of itself. It’s easy to win a political argument if you have bankrupted opponents who were willing to speak out and if you intimidate others into acquiescence.

The Greitens case is just the latest episode in this serial abuse of power, and it should have Patriots motivated to vote at every level. If this can be done to a governor, it can easily be done to people with a much lower profile and fewer resources. Patriots should vote — and act — accordingly.