Tennessee political habituation

In Tennessee, many elections are decided in the primary, making the August one at least as important as the November one. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

A new word entered my lexicon a few weeks ago: “habituation.”  Habituation is a popular term in neuroscience that explains how humans tend to respond less and less to repeated and constant stimuli.

Habituation is why I learned to sleep through sirens as a kid when my house was nestled between the hospital and the fire station. That’s why a new favorite song doesn’t hit the same way the 20th time we play it as opposed to the first few times. Numerous examples of habituation exist in our day-to-day lives, but the idea has also crept into our collective responses to political ideologies.

Before 2016, I couldn’t imagine a world where the soon-to-be president-elect would publicly make fun of a disabled person or spew racist connotations during stump speeches. Eventually, Donald Trump was elected President, and the phrasing that seemed so shocking before became a normal part of nearly every public speech or press conference.

Prior to January 2021, I couldn’t imagine a world where an attack on the U.S. Capitol would be encouraged by the outgoing president, and that same president would once again be running for that same office four years later. Yet, here we are.

Habituation is an evolutionary tool that allows humans (and other animals) to cope with incredibly dire situations. And, before we think political habituation has only occurred on the national stage, think twice, Tennesseans.

Before 2016, I couldn’t imagine a world where the soon-to-be president-elect would publicly make fun of a disabled person or spew racist connotations during stump speeches. But here we are.

Since 2011, Republicans in Tennessee have held a trifecta supermajority controlling the gubernatorial office, the House, and the Senate — the longest run of a single party in the last three decades.

Throughout the fourteen years of dominance by the GOP in Tennessee, habituation has allowed the party itself to move further and further to the right, enacting legislation that is directly at odds with how most Tennesseans feel about subjects such as gun violence and abortion — issues that are fraught with life and death scenarios.

Beginning in 2011, parameters surrounding gun ownership and possession began to disappear, culminating in Tennessee becoming a permit-less carry state in 2021 despite pushback from citizens and law enforcement personnel.

In 2014, Tennessee’s constitution was amended to prohibit protections for abortion rights for women. Five years later, Tennessee legislature enacted a trigger ban on abortions in the state. After the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs, the law went into effect in August 2022, allowing Tennessee to become one of the most restrictive states in the country regarding women’s healthcare.

Gun violence and abortion in Tennessee have both drawn national attention, but the decade-long matriculation to the furthest reaches of the right has also hurt public education and the LGBTQ community with its collateral damage. Gov. Bill Lee has endorsed candidates for the House and Senate who he knows will vote for his voucher bill, which could arguably be the most defining piece of legislation during his tenure.

How do Tennesseans snap out of this habituation and start to bring some semblance of common sense back to Nashville? Well, it’s not entirely different from what neuroscientists recommend for humans who have become a little restless because of the sameness of their lives.

Habituation is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it can help us adapt to uncomfortable situations and still be functional and productive citizens. On the other hand, habituation can lead to agitation borne out of boredom — the brand-new house now starts to feel a little too familiar, the dissipation of intense infatuation at the start of a new relationship, or the dream job that eventually feels like work.

Neuroscientists suggest that small, incremental changes in a daily routine can temporarily snap us out of that malaise, but those small changes must be consistent.

Doctors recommend fighting habituation in this way because drastic changes all at once (buying a new car, a new house, finding a new relationship) tend to lose their shine much quicker than anticipated. I believe the habituation of the political landscape in Tennessee can be altered in much the same way — tiny steps back toward the middle.

As Americans, we’ve been conditioned to believe the most critical election is held every four years in November. As Tennesseans, however, the most important election this year is the one being held on August 1 — the state primaries.

In the wake of the passage of extreme legislation and the refusal to enact reforms that most Tennesseans wanted, a new crop of moderate candidates has stepped up to run against the incumbents who have helped pull Tennessee to the fringe of the far right. Some of these moderates are running because the legislation enacted has affected them on a deeply personal level; other candidates are running because they refuse to let a vocal minority drown out the general population.

Tennessee is an open primary state; voters do not register with a party. Many primary elections across our state will see two Republican candidates face off to make it to the general election. For most primary elections, no opponent is waiting in the general — the primary is the deciding contest.

At its best, democracy is a form of government where conversation and debate lead to compromise for the betterment of all constituents. At its worst, a supermajority gerrymanders districts, intimidates voters, and ramrods legislation through while cutting mics and silencing opposition.

A change has to happen, but it has to happen in small steps, the first being on August 1.

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