Until we learn to tolerate the boredom of normal politics, we will never truly be sober. We will simply be waiting for the next cowboy to come riding over the hill, ready to give us another fix.
We expected the Obama era to be the methadone clinic—calm, measured, intellectual. But our dopamine receptors were fried. We had spent eight years addicted to the chaos of Bush, and normal governance felt like the flu. addicted to bush 2
Let’s be honest: We had a problem. For eight years—and arguably longer—American politics was hooked on a drug called George W. Bush. Until we learn to tolerate the boredom of
When everything is a crisis, nothing is a crisis. We forgot how to live at a baseline level of political sobriety. Then came November 4, 2008. The drug was gone. The "W." era ended. And the nation went into immediate withdrawal. But our dopamine receptors were fried
Suddenly, politics felt boring. We needed another hit. We needed the next villain. We needed the next "You’re doing a heck of a job, Brownie." We had been trained to consume politics as a spectacle of personality, not a process of policy. Recovery is hard. Look at the political landscape today. The names have changed, but the addiction remains. We still chase the high of the 24-hour scandal. We still crave the villain. We still confuse volume for virtue.
Whether we loved him or hated him, we couldn’t look away. In the recovery rooms of political discourse, we’re finally admitting the truth: The 43rd President wasn’t just a leader; he was a fix. He was the 24-hour news cycle’s cocaine, the comedian’s free base, and the pundit’s opioid all rolled into a pair of ill-fitting cowboy boots.