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Jon Chait noted yesterday that the moving goalposts for what constitutes the mainstream just isn’t healthy.
The GOP’s willingness to undermine the full faith and credit of the Treasury in pursuit of anti-tax fundamentalism is shocking now, but eventually it will come to be seen as simply part of the process.
Kevin Drum added that the “new normal kind of sucks.”
In the same way that Wall Street hoovering up a third of all corporate profits is the new normal. Or that 9% unemployment is the new normal. Or that obstruction, rather than legislation, is the new normal for Congress. Or that massive spending cuts during a recession is the new normal. Or that conducting three overseas wars at the same time is the new normal.
I mention this, not only because I agree with Jon and Kevin, but because it’s part of how I approach my work — I hate to see the political world desensitized to what often strikes me as madness.
A couple of years ago, Senate Republicans decided they would filibuster literally every measure of any significance, and the political world simply yawned, as if it were normal. It wasn’t. The Senate didn’t used to work this way, it wasn’t designed to work this way, and it can’t work this way, but the tactics were just accepted as routine. An outrageous abuse was simply the new normal.
It’s become a nearly-daily problem. We have prominent figures — presidential candidates, governors, high-profile members of Congress — saying and doing all kinds of scandalous things, like calling for the elimination of the EPA, condemning the Civil Rights Act, going after child-labor laws and the minimum wage, voting to end Medicare, threatening to crash the global economy on purpose, and yet, shrugged shoulders are a fairly common response, especially with the political elite.
Growing inured to the new normal is kind of depressing.
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SteveT on July 06, 2011 9:37 AM:
I hate to see the political world desensitized to what often strikes me as madness.
Well, since the (reasonably) sane party lets this go by with nary a whimper, the insane party gets to frame the debate.
For decades the Republicans have been "working the refs" with a constant, unified complaint about the "liberal media". If there are any Democrats left with osseous spines, they need to start pushing back and call the corporate-controlled media on their blatant pro-conservative bias.
KC on July 06, 2011 9:40 AM:
We also don't have anyone at the helm loudly defending these things either. Maybe kids will have to go to work after we fully gut public education? Maybe that's just the way it is?
It's a feature, not a bug. Beat people down enough and complacency--and a little desperation--rules. Too bad there is not a political party that offers a different and better vision than a declining future for the middle class.
c u n d gulag on July 06, 2011 9:42 AM:
Even frogs are smart enough to jump out as the water warms.
Sure, because they can.
I'm stuck in this f*cking stupid country, watching "The Reagan De-evolution" take us back to the 19th Century.
What's amazing is that Steve and the commenters here 'get it.'
Other bloggers and commenters, like maha, Steve M, Digby, LG&M, can figure this stuff out.
But most of the MSM cant's or doesn't. They are either blind because they're stupid or complicit, and they stick to talking points like they're a mantra to ward off bad vibes for them.
In case anyone's want to help me jump and is hiring outside the US, I speak Russian fluently.
My German's rusty, but nothing a month or two of study won't fix.
Trollop on July 06, 2011 9:47 AM:
Not if they're tried as international monetary terrorists!
Not if they're jailed right now for treason!
To me, that would be "normal". God damn you Obama.. God damn you democrats.. You're worse than the media. This is no way to lead you god damned pussy!
T2 on July 06, 2011 9:48 AM:
When a congressman can call the President a liar during a State of the Union speech and become a Republican celebrity for doing so, times have changed for the worse.
When a "journalist" can call the President a "dick" on broadcast television, and only get suspended, times have changed for the worse.
Please notice that in virtually all the cases where things have really changed for the worse, conservatives are the causal factor.
SteveT on July 06, 2011 9:52 AM:
c u n d gulag said:
In case anyone's want to help me jump and is hiring outside the US, I speak Russian fluently.
The very real possibility of President Bachmann has me looking into what it takes to get a job in Canada -- even though I really hate cold weather.
Josef K on July 06, 2011 9:57 AM:
Growing inured to the new normal is kind of depressing.
I suspect its also a function of how cut-off Washington and the Beltway is from the 'everyday life' of most Americans. The old adage about "all politics is local" rings especially true in this day and age; people simply don't have time or energy to look beyond their immediate conditions, scrambling as they are to keep what little economic security they can grab.
More's the pity, as our modern Versailles may well see the same end as Louis XVI's court did.
Countme--In on July 06, 2011 9:58 AM:
Several hundred thousand dead anti-American Confederates seemed kind of normal by say, 1864.
We'll get used to the much larger numbers required in the coming Civil War II, too, because Lincoln didn't finish the job last time.
The founding father of the modern Confederate Republican Party, John Wilkes Booth, would be proud that Atlas is shrugging in the Federal legislature once again.
atlliberal on July 06, 2011 9:59 AM:
It started a long time ago. When I was growing up, the Soviet Union was "the evil empire" because they tortured people, disappeared people and held people with no trial or recourse. During the Bush administration, you were considered unpatriotic if you disagreed with any of the things they did as long as it was part of the "war on terror". (even if they tortured people, disappeared people and held people without trial or recourse)
In this day and age of "he said she said" journalism, where even the "fact checkers" feel like they have to make both parties look like they lie equally so as not to show a "bias" rather than letting the cards fall where they may if truth has a bias, most of the country will just go along because they think "They all do it equally".
Both parties have their faults, but only one party has gone off the deep end.
steve duncan on July 06, 2011 10:03 AM:
Rick Santorum told a host on a CNN show yesterday Obama had failed to provide for 280 million new jobs as promised, instead only producing 230 million new jobs. Gobsmacked, the host implored Santorum to restate his premise, revise his statistics, anything to not be the brunt of jokes and ridicule when others got hold of a transcript or clip of the interview. Santorum doubled down, insisting his numbers were accurate. Fast forward to today. The jeers, laughter and ridicule Santorum, a candidate for President, earned through his performance yesterday? Chirp, chirp. Republicans can literally say ANYTHING, totally unmoored to reality, complete fabrications, and it has evolved to a point it produces nothing but yawns. The new normal. Orwell nods from the grave.
whichwitch on July 06, 2011 10:12 AM:
It depresses me that I have to constantly question the values that I thought America once stood for...it's either gotten lost or I was wrong to believe that we were once the envy of the world - not only because of money & military might, but because America held hope and promise, innovation and discovery and a chance for a better future for all it's citizens - not just the rich and powerful. Geez, am I saying I want to take my country back?!
Steve P on July 06, 2011 10:15 AM:
Back when our journalists had to scrape together the money for a couple of years at a community college, and maybe two more at a state college--mainly at night--we had a less refined, more active journalism.
But now they're reluctant to say anything that will cause some awkwardness at alumni gatherings, or during Parent Night at Sidwell Friends.
T2 on July 06, 2011 10:19 AM:
wichwitch, you know how it goes with Republicans.....whatever they say, just turn it around to the opposite and you'll have what they really mean/stand for.
When they say "I want to take my country back", what they really mean is they want to keep it just the way it is - Power for the Rich, not much for everyone else.
Rich2506 on July 06, 2011 10:42 AM:
Some right-winger of my acquaintance inadvertently sent me a whole set images of anti-Obama bumper stickers. One of the top ones was a sort of football score board that had "Fixed Problems" 00 - "Blamed Bush" 94. This might have been a bit amusing had Obama actually been blaming Bush, i.e., actually placing the blame where it belongs (Though, yes, it's be more accurate to say that the Republicans have been fighting tooth and nail to keep Bush's policies in place. Bush himself has been relaxing in Texas). But yeah, absolutely, Republicans don't seem to have a very firm grasp on reality.
DisgustedAtItAll on July 06, 2011 10:42 AM:
"Growing inured to the new normal is kind of depressing."
That's not strong enough. When Important People espouse policies that undoubtably, demonstrably detract from the public interest while claiming it is in the public interest, the effect is soul-destroying. And worse, it engenders hopelessness. It destroys the will to fight against the evil.
zeitgeist on July 06, 2011 11:05 AM:
the new normal is accepted by default because we have all the bread and circuses we could want.
sure the country is going to hell in a handbasket, but the folks in the suburbs and exurbs can just go to the megachurch and pray about it, listen to the peppy electric band, see the giant power point displays, and hear the preacher explain that if they just hate gays and muslims enough, God will see to their prosperity right after the flock sees to the preacher's prosperity.
if anxiety still abounds, they can go home and turn on the 50" LCD TV and watch 500 channels of 24-7 mindless drivel and have a beer. Man, can you believe those crazy people they're showing rioting in the streets in Greece and North Africa? What's up with that? Too weird - can you turn that to "Palin's Alaska" or "Deadliest Job Workers and the Bikini Bimbos Who Love Them?" And pass the chips.
swellsman on July 06, 2011 11:43 AM:
This simple shrugging of the shoulders is directly the result of our incompetent political media. Most Americans don't pay attention to politics at all, let alone political procedures like the Senate filibuster. And most Americans don't even comprehend that the society we live in now isn't something that just spontaneously arose, but is instead something that we created over generations by enacting legislation like Child Labor Laws and creating agencies like the EPA.
So when a political leader says something crazy about these things, or a political party decides to abuse procedural mechanisms to bring government to a halt, or threatens to blow up the entire American economy unless it gets its way . . . most Americans don't know that this is anything out of the ordinary UNLESS THE PEOPLE REPORTING ON THESE ISSUES TELLS THEM IT IS.
But it is now considered "unprofessional and non-objective" to point out that a Very Serious Person is being crazy. Instead, the political media is only supposed to function as a stenographer and, at most, gossip and make predictions on election-year horse races. When people can say any batshit insane thing they want, secure in the knowledge that no one will ever be so gauche as to point out that it is batshit insane, the level of batshit insanity necessarily goes up and becomes the new normal.
Texas Aggie on July 06, 2011 12:37 PM:
Once I emailed The Texas Observer about how the political news out of TX is so damn depressing. Their response was "Dogs, think dogs." I have seven dogs, all strays off the street. It only helps a little.
Now reading Steve's notes and other blogs like Crooks and Liars, TPM, etc. really is depressing. I've found that if you listen to Judith Durham on a Youtube playlist in the background, it goes better. But it doesn't change the reality of the situation.
gretchen on July 06, 2011 12:48 PM:
My coworkers this morning were completely up to date on the Casey Anderson murder trial and all its ins and outs. The debt ceiling? Not even on the radar screen.
Anonymous on July 06, 2011 1:15 PM:
Incredibly depressing. My hopelessness comes from the realization that:
1)elected Dem "leaders"are completely impotent and passive -- I can write, call, petition, send $, vote, etc. all I want but cannot really influence my party or my govt as this so-called democracy would imply were possible.
2) media are stupid and/or complicit -- completely failing to recognize talking points, ask critical questions, compare answers to known facts, see patterns, analyze, etc. Again, another democratic institution that fails to support or protect us.
3) the greedy uber-rich have so much power that there is NO WAY we can counter their influence and the new norms of blatent hostage-taking, bribing, extortion, law-twisting and ignoring (e.g. that companies should be able to repatriate BILLIONS in profits at 5% tax instead of 35% because we are desperate for some money). Even the well- educated, informed and moderately affluent among us are mere peons, and it seems to suit them to push us further into 3rd world status since they live in a bubble and have new, larger markets in Brazil, India, China, etc so they don't need us to be affluent enough to purchase their products any more.
4) While some fellow readers/bloggers (esp here) seem to "get it," the vast majority of voters do not. Many are either true believers on the other side or "too busy" with just coping with life to be informed, and most who are even a little aware are not inclined to take action anyway. Besides, see (1-3) above.
(5)Much as I might get furious about (1-4), and wish there were a third way, I know that if we don't elect a Dem, we will have a GOP president and congress -- and we all know there really IS a difference between the current slow decline and the TOTAL DESTRUCTION if they had complete power. Feels like a kid with her finger in the dyke... Working on local politics is too puny and long-term an action to make a difference.
Is our future to be one of watching a brain-and-affluence- drain with the remainder descending into a Central American country? BTW, tTwo problems with simply moving to another country in the face of a GOP president is that (a) they don't want us and (b) it's pretty global, so is hard to avoid the cancer. Bachmann might inspire many of us to at least TRY to move, however! Perhaps Gaia will have her way with us before long, and the oceans will come back to life in a few million years... Maybe I can take some hope from that thought, but it doesn't help any grandchildren I might have one day.
mr. irony on July 06, 2011 1:42 PM:
The Dickishness Of The GOP - The Atlantic 12/1/10
"These people are not conservatives in this core civilized sense; they are partisan vandals." - Andrew Sullivan
zeitgeist on July 06, 2011 1:48 PM:
Working on local politics is too puny and long-term an action to make a difference.
I disagree. at a personal level, it is much more rewarding. But should you doubt its power or effectiveness, read up on how the right got the power it has today. It wasn't an overnight success -- it started 50 years ago with Goldwater's campaign and has involved a slow but very relentless drumbeat ever since - taking over school boards, taking over local party committees and eventually state central committees (this was key to the purging of moderate R's), decades of media bashing that was ignored at first but little by little did its job, building "think tanks" and media training to allow the R's to have coherent, constant messages and "credible sources" to back them up, even the first seeds of Faux News are found in a Roger Ailes memo from the Nixon years.
The right was very patient, suffered through backsliding after Reagan, and stayed the course. And now it is paying off richly (literally) for them and their benefactors.
Not only is local action not "puny," it is the only way to start on the path of success in matching the power of the right. The left needs to learn from the patience, dedication, and focus the right has shown for the past 5 decades.
HMDK on July 07, 2011 11:52 AM:
"I hate to see the political world desensitized to what often strikes me as madness."
You're not immune, Steve.