From my quick research, this "crime" was created during the civil war as a weapon against the Confederation. Those fuckers wanted to keep slavery so it's hard to sympathise with them, but there was also a "substantially similar" law used to suppress criticism of a war, and it was also used against slaves and free blacks after Nat Turner's revolt to stop black people from assembling.

It's a political tool, used to suppress political opponents.

Interfering with an election is a reasonable crime, though 20+ years in jail would be a ridiculous sentence for such a thing unless it actually succeeded and resulted in an illegitimate government. Criminal damage and assault are obviously reasonable crimes, as is rioting and affray. The government already has tools to deal with those who went too far. But they want to go further and put these people away for a very long time. Why? Is this reasonable justice? Or is it intended to send a message that challenging the government will result in your life being effectively over?

What is happening in USA right now demonstrates that they are morally no better than Russia and China. And neither is the UK for that matter, with Julian Assange still in prison for actual journalism.