Keller @ Large: Good Old Days Weren't This Bad

BOSTON (CBS) - Maybe as you get older, your memory plays tricks, and insists that things were once a certain way when they really never were.

But it sure does feel like we're seeing all sorts of public behavior we used to see rarely, if ever.

Public profanity, obviously. Gratuitous acts of cruelty, like phone-recorded assaults. Bullying, racism, anti-semitism and other low-class behaviors have always been with us, but now they ooze through our Twitter and Facebook feeds, unedited by shame or restraint.

We've been talking for decades about how inferior education, dysfunctional families, and a popular culture in a race to the bottom are dumbing us down. The political culture usually lags behind the people, but it seems like they're catching up.

It may seem quaint, but the sleazy exploitation of an opponent's religious beliefs contemplated in those DNC emails about Bernie Sanders used to be considered toxic. But the good liberals at DNC headquarters apparently didn't get that memo.

It used to be considered a basic obligation of party politics that in the end, the losers would rally behind the winners. Within a week we've seen large chunks of both parties discard that courtesy.

It can't be self-righteousness if it's right. Right?

Back in the day, there was a saying that partisan differences stopped at the water's edge, meaning we came together when our country was threatened. Not anymore.

Maybe the good old days weren't all that good.

But it's hard to believe they weren't better than the dumpster fire we're living through now.

Listen to Jon's commentary: