It was during the early George W Bush years and the United States was waging war in Iraq and here at home as well, looking for terrorists in every Mall and airport. I was opposed: to the war, to the excesses of the Patriot Act, to Guantanamo and Abu Gharib, and to Vice President Dick Cheney and his war profiteering Halliburton Corporation. My escape from reality in that time: The West Wing<\/em>, a television series about a different Presidency and White House. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I wasn\u2019t the only one. As we listen to the politics and discussions today, Aaron Sorkin\u2019s West Wing <\/em>scripts still resonate. \u201cLet Trump be Trump,\u201d (it was let Bartlet be Bartlet) and \u201cdecisions are made by people that show up\u201d are just two West Wing<\/em> quotes I\u2019ve heard in the \u201creal world\u201d in just the past few days. And of course one of Sorkin\u2019s most famous lines from A Few Good Men, <\/em>heard over and over again as we determine what happened in Ukraine: \u201cwho called the Code Red.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The West Wing <\/em>got me through the long years of Bush, and even over the shock of Kerry\u2019s defeat in 2004. And it ended right when it should have. In the show, America elected a Hispanic Congressman to the Presidency. He then appointed his Republican opponent the Secretary of State. That\u2019s where the series ended, and reality returned in 2006. Then Barack Obama ran for the real Presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it\u2019s probably no surprise that in the Trump Administration I\u2019ve turned back to television for escape. Of course things are different today. I\u2019ve retired from teaching and coaching, and MSNBC automatically comes on all six televisions in our six-room house. But on Sunday nights I found another \u201calternate\u201d political world, Madame Secretary.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s different than The West Wing. <\/em> First of all, they are Republicans, unlike the Democrats of the \u201cBartlet Administration\u201d. <\/em> But the plots are intriguing and current, and the writing is crisp. And, much like West Wing, <\/em>the show usually ends on an uplifting note. At eleven on a Sunday night, I can go to bed with hope, even if it\u2019s hope from a TV show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, Madame Secretary <\/em>has become the first woman to serve as President of the United States. She leads a nation divided, with the Republican Party split in two factions each side running their own candidate for President. Her Vice President is from the conservative Republican faction, her husband is senior counselor, and her family is close and involved. \u201cPresident McCord\u201d tries to balance politics, world crisis, and family in the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last week\u2019s reality was hours and hours of impeachment hearings, in the real world. I\u2019ve listened to Congressmen and Senators make up \u201cfacts\u201d to pursue their own agenda. So when I turned on Madame Secretary <\/em>last night, I was hoping for something positive, some uplifting ending that would take me into this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, it is Thanksgiving week, and hopefully our focus will slide to how much food our dining room table can hold at one time. But politics will always be in the background, and not just on the six TV\u2019s. America is in crisis, we can\u2019t ignore or avoid that fact, even if Mr. Trump declares a day of Thanksgiving for Thursday. I hope he doesn\u2019t find a way to make even that about himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And here we are on the Monday before Thanksgiving. The President has fired the Secretary of the Navy. Republicans are raising the Russian \u201cfalse flag\u201d of Ukrainian election interference. Mike Blumenthal is trying to literally buy the Democratic Presidential nomination. And the impeachment of the President drones on.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA New Escape<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Real World<\/h3>\n\n\n\n