Veep and Cynicism

Like many Americans I decided to watch Veep over the last month! As far as political shows go I certainly think its one of the closest to the truth. However, I don’t think it’s right about everything. Specifically, it portrays nearly every politician as an awful, self interested jerk with no interest in anything other than raw power.

I won’t say that every person on the hill is an altruistic civil servant. However, even on the Republican side I believe most people involved are doing their best to fight for causes they actually believe in. My own experience has evidence of this. I love to talk about the what some have dubbed the “secret” or “shadow” Congress. Essentially, plenty of bipartisan laws are passed regularly (even under the Trump administration) with little fanfare that meaningfully improves the lives of everyday people. These laws are rarely covered because they aren’t “newsworthy” which is a big part of why they are able to get passed in the first place. If people didn’t really believe in improving the lives of Americans these low-key, politically unimportant, bills wouldn’t be written or pass.

Additionally, two recent political events are strong evidence of my thesis. Firstly, and most obviously was Biden’s step down. Do I wish he’d done it sooner? Yes. Do I understand that an man that had been fighting for the presidency as long as he had would have trouble coming to grips with giving that ambition? Also, yes. Getting Biden to do the right thing took external pressure, but at the end of the day he made the right choice for America before it was too late.

Secondly, major political players routinely show us that they are acting in accordance with their stated beliefs. For instance, Donald Trump is planning his campaign spending strategy as though he actually believes there is mass voter fraud. Instead of investing in a ground game, typical of every campaign for decades, he plans to spend huge amounts of his money hiring lawyers and monitoring polling locations. This isn’t to say he is right. Obviously they will find the same amount of fraud they found in 2020—none. That is actually stronger evidence to my point! If it was just a cynical ploy to fire up his base, he wouldn’t actually waste all the money chasing phantoms. Trump would just talk about it and do a ground game. However, clearly Trump believes in the nonsense he is spouting.

To be clear, this is not a pro-Trump piece. Just because Trump believes in what he says doesn’t make his beliefs less repugnant. It is merely an argument that politics is not solely filled with sociopathic monsters who will say anything for power. There are certainly exceptions. However, they are just that. Exceptions. I believe it hurts America when unfounded cynicism is assumed. It depresses voter engagement and contributes to low levels of faith in our Democracy. I hope that someday I will be able to help change this perception!