The Patriot Post® · Common Sense Prevails — Occasionally

Every so often, the political combatants find a way to work through their ceaseless bickering, come together, and get it right. Hallelujah!

The example that caught everyone’s attention last week was the U.S. Senate’s unanimous decision to reverse the so-called Fetterman Rule, the edict promulgated only a week earlier by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer scrapping the Senate’s dress code.

True, what our senators wear to work every day is trivial in comparison with issues like border security or the economy. But it’s a rare day that every member of our hyper-partisan U.S. Senate agrees on anything at all — so it’s worth a closer look.

Schumer’s initial action to eliminate the sensible requirement that senators be appropriately attired on the Senate floor is not particularly noteworthy — it’s just another ill-considered step down the slippery slope of ever-declining standards. What’s remarkable is the huge public pushback it evoked.

Evidently, many Americans don’t like declining standards, and they do care about traditional values such as decorum, pride in personal appearance, and respect for our institutions.

The backstory in brief: John Fetterman was a four-term mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, and served briefly as the state’s lieutenant governor. He’s an imposing figure — 6'8", bearded, and tattooed — and wears baggy shorts and a Carhartt hoodie everywhere. That’s Fetterman’s political persona, his brand.

During his 2022 campaign for the U.S. Senate, he suffered a debilitating stroke, but he won that election anyway thanks in large part to his campaign staff’s success in keeping his condition out of the public eye while he built a substantial lead via early and mail-in voting.

As newly elected senator, Fetterman’s stroke-induced mental health difficulties continued. He took a leave of absence, was treated for clinical depression, then gamely returned to work. Still emotionally fragile, he evidently felt more comfortable reverting to his preferred ultra-casual attire; and because that was wholly out of step with Senate practice, Schumer quietly announced that the Senate’s dress code would no longer be enforced.

He may have thought that only old geezers like me would complain. Wrong. The trigger may have been the widely seen photos of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the Senate, meeting with our president, a serious-looking group of senators … and the big lunk in baggy shorts. It was a bad look.

For once, the American public was clearly embarrassed by its elected representatives. In world-record time (one week), the Senate reversed course and voted unanimously to reinstate the dress code.

The more important issue, of course — largely ignored in this mini-flap — is whether a man who finds wearing a jacket and tie overly stressful should be a United States senator. It is not unreasonable to wonder how Senator Fetterman will fare, stress-wise, the day his vote may make or break the future of our nation. Democrat leadership should give that question some serious attention.

Nevertheless, the jolt of sensible, bipartisan fresh air — on a topic even as minor as a dress code — was long overdue and very welcome. And while we’re enjoying it, it’s worth noticing a few other glimmers of potential sanity out there, unrelated but similarly encouraging.

The escalating national problem of retail theft (a subset of the larger problem of escalating crime) is finally getting public attention. We’ve all seen videos of individuals walking out of stores with shopping carts full of unpaid merchandise and with no apparent consequences. On two successive nights in Philadelphia last week, there were coordinated, large-scale smash-and-grab thefts targeting both upscale malls and mom-and-pop retail stores.

The problem is affecting the way Americans live. Retail shopping opportunities are diminishing, vacancies are sprouting up in shopping malls, and large retailers are cutting back (Target just announced another round of closures). Meanwhile, stores in urban areas are being reconfigured with locked plexiglass barriers to protect pilferable items. The net result: higher prices and inconvenience for all.

But this is not a new story — it’s been an alarming trend for years. What’s new — and surprising — is that our predominantly progressive media are finally acknowledging the obvious link between the precipitous increase in retail theft and criminal justice “reform,” including raising chargeable theft and cashless bail for any who are arrested. That may turn the tide.

And one more example: We are beginning to see some well-founded pushback on our nation’s blind rush to electric vehicles. Several widely publicized analyses of the debilitating economic and energy supply consequences of these ill-advised policies — in contrast to their minimal climate benefits — are finally getting a public airing and eliciting some serious discussion on all sides.

Common sense, openly considered, without stigma. What a concept!