WWJBD...What Would Jed Bartlet Do

I must admit that I did not watch the debate last week.  Instead, I read about it all across both my Facebook and Twitter feed.  I also might have read a little something on CNN.com.  It appears that Mitt Romney walked all over President Obama.  

As many of you might know, I'm not really into politics.  The only time I engage in any sort of political debate/talk is when my Dad goads me into defending President Obama.  I find that when I do start to read about politics, I have this overwhelming hope or wish that Jed Bartlet was President.  Clearly, I know the West Wing was a television show and that our own government does NOT run that smoothly or funnily.  Regardless, however, I think we can all learn a bit from our friend Jed Bartlett and his Wondercrat staff.

Let's start with this: with regard to all untruthiness being thrown about, Mrs. Landingham would demand President Obama give her the numbers, the same as she demanded of President Bartlett in "Two Cathedrals."  

Let's get down to the bottom of the unemployment rate, job creation graph, and how much a "tax cut" is going to cost the average working person.  Let's talk about it in real numbers.  Let's talk about it in a simpler way: am I going to be able to afford my rent and groceries?  If my husband gets laid off, do I have to get another job just to cover our health care costs?

On education:
Regardless of whether you are a Democrat or Republican, we should be able to agree that our children need good, quality education.  The only way our country succeeds is if we have an educated electorate.  Thomas Jefferson was of the idea that  "whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government."  Sam Seaborn realized the need for stellar education a long time ago:

 Sam Seaborn: Mallory, 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. 

Well, folks, our public education system is pretty terrible and families are having a harder and harder time affording private higher education which outdoes public education almost everywhere. Kids can't borrow the funds from their parents anymore.  Those funds were eaten up in the market crash, or used to keep a family afloat when a parent lost a job.  The government should be making it a bit easier to go to college as without a college degree you can't do much in our county. Do you agree?

And what about the spirit of bipartisanship? 
I see political parties being a check on one another, just as there is a check on each branch of government.  Political parties were NOT intended obstruct nearly every bill or act the other party bring to the table.  It seems to me that what is happening today with our current election is damn close to what happened when the Speaker of the House, Jeff Haffley, went up against President Bartlet.  Haffley drew a line in the sand that ended in the near-total shut down of the government.  President Bartlett didn't back down and he got the government back on track.  

It's also damn close to what happened when Glen Allen Walken, became acting President during Zoe's kidnapping.  Walken attempted to undo most of what President Bartlett had done during his term.  Is this really good for the country?  Didn't seem that way in the TV show, doesn't seem that way in real life. 

My thinking is this: be a check on the opposite party, but DO NOT put the cost of your actions on the American people.  Don't make life harder for us just because a bill, a bill that could do some actual good, was sponsored/written by the other side.  Let's not play chicken with the livelihood of the American people.

I'll end this piece with a quote from the Avengers:

Steve Rogers: The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little...old fashioned?
Agent Phil Coulson: Everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned.

Let's remember that our country was founded on the idea that all men are created equal and that no one should be subject to a tyrannical government.  It should be a government by the people and for the people, not those who have the deepest pockets.  Maybe each and every one of us should reread the document that assured our development as a free country and remember what the stars and stripes mean to us.

Declaration of Independence