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| Donna and Josh |
I hardly ever read fiction any more. I watch quite a lot of it, however. One of the things I'm currently into is "West Wing" mostly for the quick exchanges between people, which are as well crafted as those lines from Myrna Loy and William Powell in "The Thin Man."
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| Donna and Cliff |
DONNA
Why are you a Republican?
CLIFF
Because I hate poor people. I hate them, Donna. They're all so...poor. And
many of them talk funny, and don't have proper table manners. My father slaved awayat the Fortune 500 company he inherited so I could go to Choate, Brown and Harvardand see that this country isn't overrun by poor people and lesbians.
Donna smiles.
CLIFF
No, I-I'm a Republican because I believe in smaller government. This country
was founded
on the principle of freedom, and freedom stands opposed to constraints,
and the bigger
the government, the more the constraints.
DONNA
Wow.
CLIFF
[a little surprised] You agree with that?
DONNA
No, it's crap, but you're really cute.
CLIFF
Yeah, I know. [chuckles softly]
DONNA
I had a hunch you did.
CLIFF
Oh.
***
DONNA
[smiles] Right... Anyway and not to editorialize but since we're fighting
for the betterment of ordinary people while you're voraciously protecting the
grotesque wealth of the few, I wasn't sure if this was awkward for you.
CLIFF
Listen, Robin Hood...
DONNA
You don't think it's a good tax?
CLIFF
It was, in 1916, when this country's wealth was concentrated and we wanted
to prevent
the emergence of an aristocratic class, however...
DONNA
Says Choate, Brown, and Harvard.
CLIFF
The wealth is now spread among farmers, small business owners, farmers,
merchants, and did I mention farmers?
This captures so much of what you hear Washington people saying. They allude to a number or some assertion of fact, like wealth was more concentrated in 1916 than it is today in America. In order to refute that you'd have to have some numbers of your own, which undoubtedly would be equally bogus, to say, no, actually wealth is more concentrated now than it was in 1916 or at any time in our history.
When I lived in Washington and got into arguments like this, I'd quote back some very large numbers to support my argument. I was rarely challenged on these numbers but when I was, I'd admit I had just made them up, but they were as valid and meaningful as the numbers my adversary had just quoted.
Such are the folkways of the academically endorsed as they thrust and parry inside the Beltway.
The importance of academic pedigree was a peculiar feature of Washington folkways. When C.J. is assigned to sit next to a Nobel prize winner at a state dinner she prepares for the event, avidly learning the schools he went to, trying to think of what she can say to an eminent chemist. Here in New Hampshire, I cannot imagine a woman doing that. I can't think of a New Hampshire woman who seemed eager to impress me one way or the other. People here approach you as what you are now rather than looking at your merit badges. In Washington, the uniformed services wear their decorations plastered all over their uniforms. For the non uniformed players, the merit badges are less visible but worn with the same fierce pride and sense of importance. It's only when you live in New Hampshire and breathe the clean air up here for a while you can appreciate the neurosis which festers along the Potomac.
One of my favorite people in Washington was a woman from Rhode Island whose husband was a major donor to the Democratic party and she was seated next to Al Gore at some dinner and she said he hardly met her eyes once, but spent the evening scanning the room, looking for more important people, little knowing he was sitting next to one of the most important people in the room. She was down-to-earth New England, taking the measure of the man, and finding him wanting. She wasn't about to mention all the connections which made her important to him; she just observed him.
Watching "West Wing" brings me back to Washington, every night. But it's particularly wonderful to watch it from New Hampshire where people show less ego, where they strut less, and where the place you've arrived seems more important than the path you've taken to get there.
The importance of academic pedigree was a peculiar feature of Washington folkways. When C.J. is assigned to sit next to a Nobel prize winner at a state dinner she prepares for the event, avidly learning the schools he went to, trying to think of what she can say to an eminent chemist. Here in New Hampshire, I cannot imagine a woman doing that. I can't think of a New Hampshire woman who seemed eager to impress me one way or the other. People here approach you as what you are now rather than looking at your merit badges. In Washington, the uniformed services wear their decorations plastered all over their uniforms. For the non uniformed players, the merit badges are less visible but worn with the same fierce pride and sense of importance. It's only when you live in New Hampshire and breathe the clean air up here for a while you can appreciate the neurosis which festers along the Potomac.
One of my favorite people in Washington was a woman from Rhode Island whose husband was a major donor to the Democratic party and she was seated next to Al Gore at some dinner and she said he hardly met her eyes once, but spent the evening scanning the room, looking for more important people, little knowing he was sitting next to one of the most important people in the room. She was down-to-earth New England, taking the measure of the man, and finding him wanting. She wasn't about to mention all the connections which made her important to him; she just observed him.
Watching "West Wing" brings me back to Washington, every night. But it's particularly wonderful to watch it from New Hampshire where people show less ego, where they strut less, and where the place you've arrived seems more important than the path you've taken to get there.
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