For those paying attention, sometimes fevered attention, to the election this year, it can be hard to look away. It’s a kind of self-reinforcing ailment in which you think that if you are not looking, something bad may occur. Not FOMO, but perhaps Fear of Not Doing Enough. Attention seems like a minimal fulfillment of our citizenly responsibility in this momentous time.
But where can we find mental rest and a shot of nourishment?
One possibility, possibly peculiar: a television show, old now, that speaks to a belief in principle and aspiration and in the vast possibilities we strive for in this country. It’s “The West Wing”.
Powerful in its time, and still. It has all the right accoutrements: a fine ensemble of actors at the peak of their games, snappy impactful dialogue, well-written, an inherently interesting setting, good music, strong narrative arc. Occasionally soap-y, but driven by ideas.
On the nourishment matter, and the fantasy matter: the story is populated by characters working in the Executive Branch of the federal government who wish to do better for the country, and take that work seriously. There is disagreement, often lively, on policy matters, with subsequent results-oriented negotiation. Less-than-honorable intentions and actions are not absent, but are subsumed by a sense of responsibility for leading the nation toward improvement. Cynicism and corruption appear – clear eyes require their appearance – but they are minor players, bit parts if you will.
And also. A window into a world where smart people in public service bring their best ideas and senses of commitment to the work of the nation that they, and we, believe in. We don’t want to think that world is entirely imaginary, or unattainable. We want to believe that our leadership contains these people, or their ilk, and that, with all their foibles, they are working for the public good every day. We want to believe that they will win. We want to believe that they will govern with honor, with intention, with wisdom, with both foresight and hindsight.
In these political-season Motley essays, I’ve been thinking about sustenance, and discipline, and now hope. I believe we must hope, we must believe, that there is something of that good old television fantasy still present in this fractured time, that somehow, in a room somewhere, there are smart and dedicated people who are drenched in patriotism, and who are working on behalf of the country we love. We hope they are many. May it be so. I say again, may it be so.