I Miss Jed Bartett Too
Why is it that the only time I have any faith at all in democracy is when I watch a fictional portrayal of it on TV?
I just finished watching the last episode of HBO’s “John Adams”, and I have come to three earth shattering conclusions because of this mini-series.
1) John Adams, and everyone in his family, had really horrible teeth. I dig that HBO was striving for historical authenticity and I respect that the producers didn’t go the route of having the 18th century colonials in the series look like they just finished a weekend at a Palm Springs spa; but I spent more time considering the magnitude of halitosis that Adams’s cabinet had to contend with than I did thinking about the relevance of the Alien and Sedition Acts in today’s terror obsessed society.
2) Thomas Jefferson was kind of a prick.
3) This country will never, ever, again have leaders that care more for the well-being of the country than for their own advancement/power/ego.
Listen. I’m not naive. Okay, I’m a little naive, but I know that all of this country’s “Great Leaders” have all been real people with flaws and personal agendas. I’m not saying that the Founding Fathers were infallible, or that FDR was a god, or that Reagan was a pleasant dullard who has been unjustly elevated to the status of icon by a group of necrophiliac, revisionist, partisans, who wouldn’t know a good President from Dick Nixon. Actually, I am saying that last bit.
What I am saying is that somewhere in the last 40 or 50 years, the pursuit of national politics, be it Congress or the Presidency, has become the goal in and of itself. Very few good men or women bother with the highest levels of government. This isn’t news to most, and I don’t blame the people that could do good for the country for not submitting themselves to the 12th circle of hell that is running in a big time election. I wouldn't do it, even if there weren't a glut of incriminating pictures of me in the hands of several untrustworthy friends.
Everybody’s heard the line that may or may not have originated with Alexis de Tocqueville, “In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.” I happen to believe this. It's just too bad that we the people suck it soft most of the time.
I just finished watching the last episode of HBO’s “John Adams”, and I have come to three earth shattering conclusions because of this mini-series.
1) John Adams, and everyone in his family, had really horrible teeth. I dig that HBO was striving for historical authenticity and I respect that the producers didn’t go the route of having the 18th century colonials in the series look like they just finished a weekend at a Palm Springs spa; but I spent more time considering the magnitude of halitosis that Adams’s cabinet had to contend with than I did thinking about the relevance of the Alien and Sedition Acts in today’s terror obsessed society.
2) Thomas Jefferson was kind of a prick.
3) This country will never, ever, again have leaders that care more for the well-being of the country than for their own advancement/power/ego.
Listen. I’m not naive. Okay, I’m a little naive, but I know that all of this country’s “Great Leaders” have all been real people with flaws and personal agendas. I’m not saying that the Founding Fathers were infallible, or that FDR was a god, or that Reagan was a pleasant dullard who has been unjustly elevated to the status of icon by a group of necrophiliac, revisionist, partisans, who wouldn’t know a good President from Dick Nixon. Actually, I am saying that last bit.
What I am saying is that somewhere in the last 40 or 50 years, the pursuit of national politics, be it Congress or the Presidency, has become the goal in and of itself. Very few good men or women bother with the highest levels of government. This isn’t news to most, and I don’t blame the people that could do good for the country for not submitting themselves to the 12th circle of hell that is running in a big time election. I wouldn't do it, even if there weren't a glut of incriminating pictures of me in the hands of several untrustworthy friends.
Everybody’s heard the line that may or may not have originated with Alexis de Tocqueville, “In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.” I happen to believe this. It's just too bad that we the people suck it soft most of the time.
Labels: politics
posted by DC Viking at 12:23 PM
1 people of discerning taste are saying
