David Brooks' piece today is titled "The Big Disconnect" -- as their political parties react feebly to persistent economic, entitlement, energy and immigration problems, "Americans have lost faith in the credibility of their political system" -- yet this public "disconnect" is precisely the attitude desired by Republican strategists, who thereby regard themselves as connecting quite effectively.
Well, they were, until the Ryan proposal. More on that later.
Nothing depresses what was once called civic virtue and drives down voter turnout like despair: the electorate's helpless feeling that no matter what, problems will be neither resolved nor even soberly addressed. So, since January 2009 Republicans have heaved one monkey wrench after another into the machinery of effective government and government responsiveness. They have filibustered, slowed, attacked, thwarted, obstructed, done everything imaginable to grind good government and economic recovery to a pulverized rubble.
Although President Obama and Congressional Democrats performed with remarkable, one could say even heroic, effectiveness for two years -- achieving historic healthcare reform, financial reregulation, the auto industry's salvation, an almost reasonably sized stimulus package, etc. -- Republicans were "patriotically" on hand to loyally perform their opposition duty of disinformation, destruction and delay. It worked like a nightmare. In November 2010 we got what a depressed electorate and consequently smaller turnout were determined to deliver unto us: a larger GOP Senate minority and a House majority of downright Gothic horror.
After a mere four months of these alternating prophets of doom and rootin-tootin revolutionaries in office, the statistical result has been what Mr. Brooks itemizes: "There is a negativity bias in the country, especially among political independents and people earning between $30,000 and $75,000 (who have become extremely gloomy)." What's more,
The share of Americans who say they trust government to do the right thing most of the time is scuttling along at historic lows. Approval of Congress and most other institutions has slid. Seventy percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track, according to The New York Times/CBS News poll. Nearly two-thirds believe the nation is in decline, according to a variety of surveys.
Well done, Grand Old Party. You took a crippled nation in pain and delivered more debilitating blows to its ribs. "Over the past months" -- notes Brooks rather cowardly, that is, without assignment of proper and pointed blame -- "we’ve seen a fascinating phenomenon. The public mood has detached from the economic cycle. In normal times, economic recoveries produce psychological recoveries. At least at the moment, that seems not to be happening."
One need not wonder why.
In the process of demoralizing Americans, though, Republicans committed an enormous, twofold strategic error. It was introduced as politically pragmatic. Barring Keynesian measures they despise (and knew to work), they were left with no realistic measures whatsoever in living up to their pledge to create jobs, the actual creation of which, of course, at any rate would not have helped their efforts to defeat Obama in 2012. (America first, always America first.) So they pivoted hard to deficits and debt as monstrous distractions. So far, so good, politically speaking.
Then, however, from a whopper of ideological compulsion came a political stunner of almost unthinkable magnitude: in tackling the deficit bugaboo, they would reduce government outlays by murdering Medicare. They said so. In writing. With ribbons and bows. Glory be.
Which loops us back to the Brooksian "disconnect." Which is to say, not for long. For public despair is being replaced by national outrage -- squarely at Republicans.
An uncommon preciseness has been introduced to the 2012 campaign. Rather than the indefinable miasma of economic lethargy, from which cacophonous voices of blame are raised and partisan fingers are pointed this way and that, we now have the stark poignancy of clearly identifiable villains -- yep, those guys. If the electorate ever wanted to "connect" its roiling anger to a rewarding outcome, 2012 will be the time. And it will stand 2010 on its head.