Revisiting "The West Wing"
Who am I kidding? I don't want to stop writing about politics.
I’m a huge West Wing fan. For that matter, I’m a fan of a lot of what Aaron Sorkin writes. Whenever I am feeling disenchanted by the state of the country, when the meanness and sheer cruelty of Forty Five and his followers make me want to go into hiding because it hurts so much to see and listen to, and I need a good shot of idealism, I’ll put in a DVD of West Wing. One reason is because Bartlet does stuff that I wish an actual President would say out loud. For instance, who doesn’t cheer when Bartlett tells off the religious nut Jenna Jacobs in Season 2, episode 3 “The Midterms?” These people are such a pain in the ass that for me there is a gratuitous sense of relief that someone in power (even if it is pretend), has the cajones to stand up to these people who label themselves Christians but never talk about Christ, nor do they act like Him—they use Him for a cheap power grab.
This is not the first time nor the last on this show that West Wing takes a stab at self-righteous Bible thumpers. Another reason I love to watch this is that it reminds me that Washington, DC is not a monolithic institution. The government is run by people—people who have families, have emotions, and depending on what administration you are talking about, (not 45), try to do real good for the people of America. The problem with America is that we love the bad stuff. We love it because it gets us riled up. Does anyone actually know all the good things that Washington has done for the American people? I don’t think so. There are good things in all the bad, but we don’t hear about this because America is the Roman Empire, and we are only revved up by controversy and drama, the proverbial Roman Coliseum gladiator battles. We lose the good because good is often quiet, and unassuming.
Americans are not quiet and unassuming much of the time. We’re not afraid to give our opinions. It’s the facts some of us don’t want to accept because the Republican propaganda machine is very good at confusing us as to what is a fact, who we can trust, and who we can’t trust and even erode our trust in democracy. So we vote against our own best interests. We fight amongst ourselves. As a result we feel powerless much of the time. Much of the time, we do not want to do the hard work of democracy—we don’t want to write to our representatives. We don’t want to make the phone calls or volunteer for our county parties, or knock doors, or stand up and call a spade a spade and call out injustices. The people in the West Wing do. Do they make mistakes? You bet they do. They own up to them and try to do better. They struggle with themselves, and what the right thing is. We see the humanity, not the institution.
We don’t see the wins in the White House. But on West Wing we get to, and it is inspiring when we see Congress working on TV the way it’s supposed to. For instance, in the “Stackhouse Filibuster” episode, a cranky old Senator Stackhouse from Minnesota filibusters on the floor for over nine hours trying to block Bartlet’s Family Wellness bill, and nobody knows why he’s doing it. Turns out Stackhouse has an autistic grandson that the bill won’t help but he doesn’t want to make political hay out of his grandson so he tells nobody—he just filibusters. When word gets around, members of Congress offer to ask questions about autism in 22 parts for the first question— for him so ostensibly he can sit and get a drink of water —they’re really giving him an opportunity to rest while they continue the filibuster while the President and his staff and Congress work in the background to add to the bill to help his grandson and autistic kids:
I think that’s what we hunger for. We hunger for the inspirational moments in government like this. We want to see a President who is compassionate, not a president who hates poor people and women, and anyone who isn’t white. We want the guy who wrestles with his conscience like Bartlet did when he had to decide whether or not a prisoner should get the death penalty or be pardoned. We don’t see these moments. I do not know if we should, necessarily—but we do want to know that whoever is sitting in the Oval Office has the capacity for compassion and kindness.
We want the human touch in Washington, not dirt, not mudslinging constantly, and certainly not cruelty demonstrated daily on television, not division. We don’t want the rhetoric of hate, not really. We like the drama, but not the rhetoric, especially rhetoric unbecoming of their offices. We want to see dignity and respect back in the White House, we want to see what Sorkin gives us—an ambitious White House staff and President that is not ambitious for themselves—-they’re ambitious for the American people, have deep respect for the office of the President. They’re a Democratic administration who is willing to work with Republicans by hiring one to be on their staff. Remember Ainsley Hayes who got hired to work as Deputy White House Counsel? I think we really want to get back to the days when we all worked together, deep down, to serve our country in some beneficial way, and Ainsely Hayes really does.
I think that’s why we’re so excited about Kamala Harris and Governor Walz. They give us the hope we have been missing in all the dread and darkness that Forty Five represents; that we only see in glimpses in real life.
Do you know that we can bring something of this idealism back? It takes belief and faith in democracy, and we need to have it even when it seems everything good is falling apart around us.
I end with a quote from President Barlet that rings especially true in the darkness we’ve been fighting since 2016, which never really goes away, and which we always, always must be on guard against so that the people who have given their lives for our freedom—ALL of our freedoms—-have not died in vain.
We did not expect nor did we invite a confrontation with evil. Yet the true measure of a people’s strength is how they rise to master that moment when it does arrive.
Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen)
The West Wing, Season 4, Episode 2