Let me preface this post with the observation that the core distinction between liberals and conservatives seems to be that while both are inclined to tell you what to do, the latter do it for their own good and the former do it for the good of you and them. Moreover, liberals have the capacity to take pleasure in other people's success, which makes conservatives jealous -- jealous of the success and the pleasure.
Another's success makes the conservative (never mind political affiliation) feel deprived. Which is probably what prompted Cain to kill Abel, depriving him of life to even the score. So, the behavior is not new.
The law has been arrogated by the crooks.
We are living in an arena of legal crime. However, that is not new, either. In the original Constitution, human rights were compromised when the ownership of some people by others, an ownership that enhanced their importance in the halls of Congress, was made legal. Property rights trumped the rights of the natural person. And that echoes still in the ownership of children by their parents and the subordination of human rights to the interests of the state.
The requirement to register for the military draft, to give one's consent to be ordered to kill and to be killed, is an echo of involuntary servitude, enforced by people who have decided that the only thing wrong with slavery was that it was involuntary. Thus, when people can be tricked into consenting to abuse, it's no longer abuse; it's "sacrifice" for the good of some ineffable concept like "nation" or "patriotism" or "will of the people." And when people can be tricked into signing on the dotted line, agreeing to the small print that puts them in hock for life, for acquiring the necessities of living in the modern world, then there is no crime. Rather, it's entirely legal.
Deprivation of rights under cover of law. Deprivation was supposed to be reserved as punishment for crime. But, deprivation first ("no free lunch") seems to be widely preferred. Perhaps it's just a matter of not being able to keep the proper sequence (crime before punishment) or a belief that a regimen of punishment will prevent the crime, but I doubt it. Some people lust for power and power, to be felt, has to inflict damage. The essence of power is to injure. Doing it with impunity, under cover of law, is their ideal.