What is the significance of this shift in political life? A moralist might argue that we have entered a period of ethical collapse. The old Christian standard no longer holds, it would seem. There is another possibility, however: maybe we have abandoned moralistic pretense and entered a period of greater realism.

This might not be such a discontinuity. As a class, politicians have never been moral paragons. They have always used scandal as a tool. The presidential campaign between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams was among the most sordid in American history. Even Cicero, in his campaign for consul, solicited advice from his brother, who advised him to tarnish his opponents with sex scandals.

In other words, maybe we have simply stopped pretending.