The end of decorum in politics

The new populism has helped Republicans hold onto power

It does seem to be a faction on the far-right that has increasingly pushed against ordinary notions of decorum. This is a trend that, in small ways, actually started a long time ago, maybe even back in the 1980s, with crass humor and disgusting jokes, which were mostly non-political, but over time became increasingly political. In terms of bringing disgusting humor into politics, that started with the radio "shock jocks" of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Many of the shock jocks were non-political, and when they made a political joke it was typically of the pattern "all politicians suck." But then Rush Limbaugh got going, and in his early days he did a lot of jokes about Senator Ted Kennedy hosting sex orgies. I recall Limbaugh joking about Kennedy having to buy condoms at bulk discount rates, so he could afford them.

At that time, establishment Republicans were wary of Limbaugh, but that slowly changed over the course of the 1990s. Newt Gingrich changed the cultural tone with his "revolution" of 1994, after which the Republicans in the House became less Establishment and more populist. The crassness, the disgusting jokes, the violation of decorum, all seemed to be part of the populism.

And then after 2008 we saw the rise of the Tea Party. This is also when the new crassness invaded our local government. My mom saw it. My mom served in the government of my hometown, Jackson, New Jersey, from 1973 to 2019. And she remembers (and I remember) the professionalism and the decorum and the genteel politeness that was normal before 2008. In the 1980s and 1990s Jackson was mostly Republican, but the kinds of Republicans who served in the town government were these farmers from prosperous farming families who had been farming the same land for 300 years. They were like local aristocrats, with the manners you'd expect.

But everything changed after 2008. Suddenly the town hall meetings became much more aggressive, the Republicans were angrier, more populist, more assertive, and much more nasty. At one meeting one of the Republicans who was in the audience, advocating for a new development, called my mom a "bitch." I cannot emphasize enough how completely out of place that would have been before 2008. That kind of language, in a town hall meeting, was unknown before 2008. But that kind of nastiness became increasingly common after 2008.

As a tactic for gaining power, the new populism has been a powerful tool for the Republicans. But it has, and it is, doing great damage to our society.