I don't want a leftist authoritarian government any more than I want a right wing authoritarian government.

Edited to add: Edmond Dantes, the character, wasn't too concerned with legal formalities as I recall. Of course Edmond causes quite a bit of collateral damage which we rightly abhor - and for that Dumas even has him doing a bit of soul searching, no? But being a man of action he still gets the job done. Dumas writes him as force of nature. Injustice has consequences. With all due respect, the fear of a left-wing authoritarian government (in the US) is absurd. The people causing the daily shit show are the same privileged degenerates that have always schemed in the shadows. But now they can let their hair down. No meaningful repercussions. No accountability. Same as it ever was.

That would be violating the constitution.

And if you had read the book to the end, Dantes came to realize that in fact his anger and revenge wasn't good. He stopped his revenge forgave those who did him wrong and left to begin a new life with Haydee. The movies always miss that point.

Not in the original french but quality unabridged translations.

Yes, he lives to regret his actions. I think that's common with anti-heroes and a privilege of surviving. But Dumas intends to show us that nature has a way of balancing out. Despite his regrets, larger forces were at hand and he was fated to exact revenge.

So the question is not how Edmond could have made better choices, but how he chooses to live with/reconcile himself afterward.

There is more than one lesson to be gleaned.

The first sense definition is : Break or Disregard

When a new amendment passes to negate an old one, we "violate" the prior constitution and a new constitution in part (at least) is born.

Sure, there's the spirit vs the letter of the law - yadda, yadda, yadda.

But regarding the spirit, I'm pretty sure no founding father foresaw a wholesale monetization of the pardon privilege.

As they say, "If men were angels, there would be no need for laws."

could just be locked up for new crimes... For instance, that crypto guy could be locked up for bribing a public official. I think there are a few that bribed trump for pardons. Some of the J6ers have already been caught committing another crime...

...due to dementia. At that point the pardons will be nullified.

...and a charitable one.

...so mostly I was trying to think of a way that wouldn't set a precedent.