‘The sight and sound of competence and dedication.’
‘The sight and sound of competence and dedication.’
There will always be a gap between expectation and reality. The world is not perfect. People are not perfect. The expectations, however, remind us that we should not accept the current situation, and that we can always improve—if we want to.
What are these instances of expectation versus reality? We need not look further than what we saw at the House of Representatives these past few days.
Expectation 1: Independence. The government is composed of three branches of government that are independent, separate and co-equal. They check and balance each other, ensuring that no one branch commits abuse of power. The Executive does not meddle in the affairs of the Legislature, and the lawmakers act on their own, crafting and passing laws they believe would be good for the people. Their words and actions do not in any way court the favor of the Executive, and developments in Congress are determined only by lawmakers themselves – not lawmakers dancing to the tune of the Executive.
Expectation 2: Urgency. The House holds the purse strings of government. The Constitution designates it as the only body that can initiate appropriation proceedings. With this solemn duty, lawmakers make sure that they give enough time for budget deliberations so each government agency spends taxpayers’ money in the most prudent way possible. At a time of a public health emergency, the consequences of even just a day of delay are magnified. Lawmakers, because they are public servants, act with urgency and are ashamed of every day of delay.
Expectation 3: Genuine service. Lawmakers from the Lower House are elected by the people in their respective districts on the assumption that they would champion their best interests in Congress.
Expectation 4: Maturity. Birthdays are events celebrated in private and these have no bearing on the interests of the nation. After all, everybody has a birthday once a year.
We all know the realities that counter these expectations. Cringe-worthy. Facepalm-inducing. Hilarious, if only they weren’t happening on our dime. All these make us wonder where we are headed as a nation—and to think that the COVID numbers are still not going down.
But we need not be so defeatist. We must perform our solemn right and duty to vote come 2022. In the lead-up to the polls, we should psych ourselves to be discerning of the things we read and hear —reject what is obviously propaganda, if not downright false statements, stick with the truth, and then form our own opinion.
What’s next?
The West Wing is a political drama series that started in 1999 and went on for seven seasons, concluding in 2006. It is about the people working in, well, the West Wing of the United States White House, under fictional Democrat president Josiah “Jed” Bartlett, played by Martin Sheen.
Main characters are the senior WH officials including the chief of staff (Leo), the deputy chief of staff (Josh), the communications director (Toby), deputy communications director (Sam), the press secretary (CJ), and some aides and assistants, helping the President make decisions on domestic and international issues.
I only had the pleasure of finishing the series recently; I did not have access to it when it originally aired. It’s a feel-good show where leaders were competent and decent, and where they realized the weight and importance of what they were doing. They were by no means perfect, and their personal lives showed that they were as human as any of us. But they took their jobs seriously, aware that nothing less was expected of them.
Alas, today’s real West Wing has descended to the low of being a hotspot for COVID-19, where prevarication, selfishness, ignorance and arrogance lie in one messy pile.
Fourteen years after its finale, The West Wing makes a one-time comeback this week on HBO, with a reading of one episode from its third season, supposedly in the light of current circumstances. Original cast members as well as the original creator, Aaron Sorkin (who stayed on until Season 4) are staging A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote. It’s a bid to encourage Americans to go out and vote on November 3, especially now that there are far too many threats to democracy.
“What’s next?” is a favorite expression of President Bartlett. What is next, indeed? These days it is so comforting to re-watch shows like The West Wing, because it reminds us how things should be, and what we should really expect from the people who are supposed to lead us.
It would be, as Sorkin said in a TV interview, “the sight and sound of competence and dedication.” If we can’t have that from our real leaders, it would be a respite to experience it for a brief hour. It’s a brief relief, but a relief nonetheless as we remind ourselves to do better in choosing our leaders next time around.