In general, government officials often emerged unscathed for things that average Americans would go to jail for, but Eric Holder is a towering example among examples.

At a hearing yesterday, Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold spoke a simple truth:

“I’m committed to maintaining the constitutional balance of power and the authority this branch, this legislative branch, has,” Farenthold said. “And I just don’t think it’s appropriate that Mr. Holder be here.”

“If an American citizen had not complied with one of the Justice Department subpoenas, they would be in jail, not testifying,” he noted. “But I realize there are questions to be asked, and I’ll yield the remainder of my time to [South Carolina Republican congressman] Trey Gowdy.”

At the same hearing, Holder lashed out at Rep. Louie Gohmert for suggesting Holder doesn’t take the House’s 2012 contempt vote seriously: “You don’t want to go there buddy!”

Whenever Holder says “you don’t want to go there,” somebody should go there.