Getting things straight …

… The New Not-Normal | The Weekly Standard. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

What "the new normal" chiefly covers is changes in etiquette, dress, relationships, conduct—in short, morals, manners, and customs. One might think these items trivial next to the importance of changes in the law. Montesquieu, the great Enlightenment philosopher, thought otherwise. In his Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline, Montesquieu wrote: "More states have perished by the violation of their moral customs than by the violation of their laws. Not always but often changes in customs precede changes in law." Changes in customs, in fact, generally pave the way for changes in laws.