Mr. Smith Leaves Washington

 
I just finished watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I couldn't help but draw parallels to today. Perhaps it helps to realize or think that they had the same problems 60 years ago - graft, Senatorial malfeasance, big business pulling strings and people not voting. In the movie there is essentially a quip that no one votes, so do what string puller says...

Today, I feel like Mr. Smith would leave Washington in disgrace and never have a chance for his filibuster. Or perhaps something more sinister.

Where are the Mr. Smiths? The Lincolns, the Jeffersons, the Adamses even the Eisenhowers? Can we ever get back to any ideals, any ideals whatsoever? You hear the same tired rhetoric, the same malformed logic, the same pandering to the sound bite.

Won't anyone ever invoke the words of Hayek or Friedman, or even Stiglitz? No one talks of Rousseau, or Locke or Rand. Maybe it is just no one cares. You get more coverage talking about gay marriage than true values or ideals.