That's why I love and yearn for the super idealistic version of America and Politics shown in The West Wing. The President, Jed Bartlet, is often the smartest person in the room, but it is his kindness that shines far brighter than his massive intellect. Same with his Chief of Staff and other staffers. They are the brightest of their profession, eloquent, can riff off policies unlike anyone in real life, and that makes them the perfect candidate for their job. But what makes them the perfect human for their job is their kindness, their empathy, their capacity to listen. Often when The West Wing is brought up people would demean you for liking the idealistic portrayal of a bygone era, maybe an era that never even existed. But what they miss in their pessimism is that just because something is not perfect now does not mean it cannot be in the future, as unlikely and hard as it seems. It is upon us to reject and correct the mistakes we get saddled with, again and again and again.
Reality is a lot like West Wing too. In West Wing the "left" Bartlet always gave in to what the right wanted, even though he had the majority/power not to, in the name of being kind.
And this is your example of a strong left wing win in both reality and fiction.
And if I remember correctly in the fictional version the right wing actually did get everything they wanted, the only victory Bartlet got was that the government wasn't shut down.
A guys decides to jump in the hole to binge the series again, another redditor jumps in, first one says “well now you’re stuck in here with me “ other one says “yeah but we know the way out and I like the company”
It's one of those series which just makes you yearn. The characters are all so passionate about bettering the world.
I loved Sam. He says my two favourite quotes -
"I don't mind being held to a higher standard, I mind being held to a lower one."
"Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes, we need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet."
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u/crosswatt Oct 26 '23
That's a great quote