Things were always getting worse

I haven't really been reading anything consistently lately. I've just been grazing, because I haven't found the time to get into a good book. So the other day I picked up a copy of Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?, which just happened to be laying on my shelf. This is her first book, published in 1991, and it is full of her peculiar brand of political humor, almost entirely aimed at targets no longer on the scene.

It's really strange to look back on the Reagan and Bush I years, and realize that a whole hell of a lot of the things we were complaining about then, we are still complaining about now. I wasn't a big fan of Reagan, but I wasn't as politically aware then as I am now. I've had the feeling lately that this last six years have been the political low point of U.S. history, but now I'm not so sure.

Ivins even says that.

Things are not getting worse; things have always been this bad. Nothing is more consoling than the long perspective of history. It will perk you up no end to go back and read the works of progressives past. You will learn therein that things back then were also terrible, and what's more, they were always getting worse. This is most inspiring.

So maybe she's right. Perhaps in years to come, we'll look back at the W presidency and say, "Gosh, we sure did have it good back then."