The magazine of the North Carolina Center for Voter Education • Saturday May 19, 2012

Hollywood's Depiction of Democracy Often Misses the Mark

By Damon Circosta
Published: Mar. 7, 2011

RALEIGH - Watch almost any movie about politics and the first thing you will notice is the degree to which our popular imagination is fascinated with individual politicians.

From the courageous Jimmy Stewart, filibustering alone in the well of the U.S. Senate in “Mr. Smith Goes To Washington”, to Robert Redford’s lonely stand against the evils of adulation in “The Candidate”, our culture is fascinated with the ones who willingly submit themselves to be judged by the voters.

In Hollywood’s version of democracy the entire enterprise often comes down to just one person. No doubt our history is laden with outsized personalities, intriguing politicians and elected officials whose work has changed the course of history.

But if you were to buy Hollywood’s take on our democracy, everything gets done by one hard-charging personality. In reality, our government works not because of individuals taking a lonely and courageous stand, but of many people coming together to solve problems.

The point of our government is not to give anyone everything they want. It is designed so that people from all walks of life can coexist.

Governments where one person is the focus of everything are called dictatorships. While it makes a better movie if an individual can bend the masses to his will, a better democracy is one where disparate views are taken into account. Democracies are less about the moments of individual triumph and more about accommodation of many different ideas.

Forging that harmony is difficult work. Ideas must be turned into legislation. Legislation must be debated and after a bill becomes a law it must be administered fairly.

The day in and day out work of our democracy is not filled with emotional speeches and dramatic moments. It does not happen when the spotlight is shining and the politicians are playing for the cameras. Democracy typically occurs in the poorly lit hallways of a government building when two sides that were opposed to something find a way to move forward.

It takes a lot more people than the politicians to make this happen. As stars of the show, the credit typically goes to the elected officials, and no doubt they have an important role. But in order to produce quality government we need many others.

From the nonpartisan research staff who shape ideas into legislation, to the teacher who introduces her students to the civic process, to the millions of people who cast an informed ballot, our democracy is really an ensemble cast.

Here in North Carolina there are real policy differences that exist between people and those must be sorted out. And sometimes it is necessary for an individual to stand up against the crowd. But most of the time the more courageous thing for politicians to do is to sit down with those they disagree with and hash things out.

Movies about long meetings where ideas are shared and agreements forged would do lousy at the box office. But it is exactly in those types of meetings where our democracy takes shape.

Sensible compromise may make for lackluster cinema, but it makes for good government.