A Real Scandal

I finished the television show Friday Night Lights this summer so in recent weeks my new craze has been Scandal. If your not familiar with this show, first of all, turn on your TV and familiarize yourself with it, but for now here's the lowdown. It is a show about a woman named Olivia Pope who worked on the campaign to get the current president elected, but there is a bit of a scandal going on because she is having an affair with the current president and has been since the campaign. But it's not at all one of those sappy drama love stories, Mrs. Pope quit her job at the white house and now has her own investigation firm where she helps politicians or anyone who needs help solving murders or undercover things that cannot be directly handled by the actual law enforcement for whatever reason. 

However, everything in the show revolves around the government and politics in D.C., and although I realize that this is a fictional show, some of the things that go on in the politics of the show are so controversial yet realistic that they really make me consider how controversial our politics is in today's day and age and what is really going on behind closed doors in our great nation's capital. 

 

In our constitution you can't miss the 100 point font, "WE THE PEOPLE," yet in the show Scandal I seriously question how much power WE, as in your average non-government official US citizen, has, and sometimes I feel like it should really say "Them the people," as in the government officials in office. In the show, Olivia Pope actually rigged the election to get her candidate elected president. Even in office, the president does many controversial things, like abuses his power to get certain things or moving obstacles in his way most often by tarnishing their reputation or murder. And most of all everything you see in the media in this fantasy America is almost entirely different than what you would see behind the doors in the oval office. 

Even though I realize this is all made-up, it makes me question, could something even remotely similar actually be happening in D.C with elected officials in the real word America? Especially because right now we are in the middle of one of the most controversial events in our nations history- the government shutdown. You can learn more about it here, but 4 days ago our government was completely shut down except for essential functions for 16 days straight. 

This is certainly not something I would have voted for, and apparently the majority of the American people agree with me, "According to the survey, 63 percent of those questioned said they were angry at Republicans, with 57 percent also angry at Democrats, and 53 percent unhappy with President Obama. Nearly half of those surveyed said the shutdown has caused major problems." (Source). 

Why weren't "We the People," included in a decision that affects 313 million other Americans who say that this "would cause major problems," so they obviously were not in support of it. One of the biggest decisions in our nation's history was made soley by "them the people," how does this reflect upon how our nation is run? 

 

Feel free to comment!