Cheer up. Not everything went down over the last two weeks.

Granted, most things did. The stock market tanked, government’s approval numbers fell, America’s credit rating slipped as if on a cosmic banana peel. All of which is predictable any time the world’s largest economy is driven to the rim of ruin while “leaders” bicker like kids in the back seat of the family car on a road trip across Texas. In August. With a busted air conditioner. But in the midst of that bleak litany of decline, there was a bright spot. Indeed, one leading indicator registered a sharp uptick. For the first time, it seems, more than half the American electorate now holds a negative view of the tea party movement. If you’re wondering what that is a leading indicator of, the answer is simple: common sense.