One of the things that has gotten us to this point in American politics is the erosion of norms…and the development of new ones. Nothing is a bigger exemplar of this than the filibuster, which was once the sort of thing where you actually had to stand up and talk and hold the floor if you wanted to bring the Senate to a screeching halt. The ability to filibuster by saying you were filibustering (so that other things could move along) was the stupidest move in history, because it had the functional impact of normalizing a requirement for 60 votes for anything in the Senate. I’ve lost count of how many things have gone down to “defeat” in the last six to eight years with 53 or 57 votes simply because a paper filibuster is without cost and nobody in the public both knows any better and cares enough to make a fuss about it.
The other norm that’s gone by the boards is the notion that any and every presidential appointment an be routinely held up by these paper filibusters. Countless appointees twist in the wind, only to find themselves confirmed with 90+ votes once the filibuster is broken. This isn’t about going after some specific wingnut, as happened with Robert Bork – which has been used to justify al manner of foolishness – this is a scorched-earth approach, the ability to routinely deny the President the basic function of government. And it’s a huge risk and amazingly cynical, because it decouples blame from where it belongs.
See, people are losing their mind to the point that they’ll consider Donald Trump a viable candidate because “government doesn’t work.” And why doesn’t government work? Because the government’s been shut down twice in the last five years, because there’s a Supreme Court vacancy sitting untouched, because people are literally dying while they wait for Senate approval, because the normal budgeting process literally doesn’t happen anymore. And all because one side dug in its heels and said NO – and as a result, the partisans of that side scream that government doesn’t work and that only a polyester-haired tosspot can be their savior.
It’s insane. It’s the sort of thing that makes you wonder if Nixon could be impeached in 2016. If a seated President were found to have approved breaking into and bugging the headquarters of the other party, and used Federal resources to cover up the crime, and instructed his attorney general to fire the investigating officer – who would push back on that now? Could you even get impeachment now? Probably not, because the entire concept of impeachment was tarnished when it was used against Clinton – get a special prosecutor to chase conspiracy theories and rumors to the ends of the earth, with an ever expanding remit, get sworn testimony from someone and then get conflicting testimony from the President to create a perjury trap, and impeach on that basis? When the most fearsome tools of government are reduced to instruments of political slap-fighting to undo the result of an election, what possible check does the system have on itself?
That’s the ultimate flaw in our system of government: it relies on a society capable of norms and shame. Neither of those are honored even in the breach at this point, and without those, our system sinks into paralysis because it was meant to rely on negotiation and collaboration, and the idea that eventually you have to make some sort of agreement. That simply isn’t possible anymore, and Mann and Ornstein will be happy to elucidate why. One hopes that the Trump fever will be enough to kill that particular patient and leave the remaining parties able and willing to do a deal…but it’s not always good to hope, and hope is the furthest thing in the world from a plan.