This weekend we watched the 1939 movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, directed by Frank Capra starring James Stewart. (watch the entire movie for free via google video)
70 years after it first arrived on the silver screen (yes, back then it was actually silver) this movie still strikes a chord with audiences - it sure did with us.
You fight for the lost causes, harder than you fight for any others.Synopsis:
In the movie Mr. Jefferson Smith is appointed to the Senate to fill an interim seat due to another Senator's untimely death. He is appointed because it is assumed he'll be a pushover who wouldn't have enough sense to understand anything, let alone get anything done.
Once in Washington, Smith discovers that things aren't as rosey as he once thought. A lobbyist machine that controls all the newspapers and media of the time, run by a Mr. James Taylor, is corrupting Senators by guarenteeing them perpetual reelection if they push through a pork bill attached to an urgent appropriations bill that "must be passed immediately!"
Unfortunately the pet project of this lobbyist and his corrupted Senators conflict with Mr. Smith's first proposed bill, the noble cause of a National Boys Camp.
Mr. Taylor's media machine uses every tool in its toolbox to slander Mr. Smith's name and keep his efforts from being publicized thus preventing the truth from reaching the people.
Faced with no other choice and after being accused of corruption himself, Mr Smith ends up surprising everyone and filibustering for 23 hours to block the passage of the pork riddled bill until he collapses with exhaustion amidst baskets of fake anger letters manufactured by the lobbyists.
The movie ends on an upbeat note of applause as the lead corrupt Senator is overwhelmed with guilt and after failing to commit suicide admits to the scheme and his involvement. It took monumental effort but eventually the good and just man wins.
Liberty is too precious a thing to be buried in books. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say, I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't and I can, and my children will.
After the election confetti settles a new altruistic and wide eyed face enters Washington vowing to change the status quo - to shake things up - to be the change that got that person elected..... yet they succumb to the same bureaucracy as, so it seems, many of our politicians do.
I believe a majority of our officials do try to be true and fair, however like in the movie all too often the good get buried by the long shadow of the corrupt, never to be seen again.
We have some big challenges. We will always have big challenges but I hope someone like Mr. Smith shows up in Washington every once in a while and that it isn't too late to turn the aging bureaucratic system around into something that works better.
Census
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