Caddyshack Politics

The gopher is my favorite.
He represents all those pesky
variables neither party can
control.

For the past thirty years or so, my go-to source for understanding politics has been the George Orwell classic Animal Farm. Whenever I found myself befuddled by all the craziness and crazies involved in that particular realm, I’d think back on some character or incident in that book, and  my questions would be answered. But I have to say, even Animal Farm can’t make much sense of the insanity found in this current presidential election. So I searched for a different frame of reference and found it in another classic—the 1980 movie Caddyshack.

Wait. Before you start rolling your eyes, think about it. The dominant setting of this movie is the lush, rolling golf course of Bushwood Country Club. (Ironic that it’s named Bushwood?) Running this seemingly idyllic world is a regime which establishes and enforces the rules— the special ones for those in charge and the ones for everyone else. Most strictly enforced are the rules that bar newcomers who don’t fit the long-established expectations of appearance and decorum. Life at Bushwood is about nothing if not appearances.

At this point, I have some explaining to do. Lest you think I’m comparing the Bushwood world to either the Democrat or Republican party, you are wrong. I’m comparing it to both parties. Regardless of their names, both parties have been around a long time and both have their rules and conventions—weird and convoluted though they be. And in both parties, there are special rules for special people. Both parties have their unprincipled, high muckety-mucks. And both parties work overtime doing damage-control to their tarnished appearances.

So back to Bushwood, where trouble is brewing. Into this well-guarded world, comes an outsider. Crude and bumptious, he respects neither the rules nor the anointed leaders. But he does bring a certain element of fun and the appeal of shaking things up, so he attracts fans. The establishment wrings their collective hands, battle lines are drawn, and members and employees take sides. Chaos ensues.

And now you’re thinking, you’ve got this all figured out. In the present election, the identity of  this obnoxious outsider is obvious. But, once again, you’re wrong. Both parties this season have had their unwelcomed contenders. Admittedly, one of these intruders is louder and more pretentious than the other, but both parties have had to deal with the unrest and frustration these interlopers have either stirred up or exposed.

So where will all this pandemonium lead? Well, in Caddyshack, pretty much the whole golf course blows up, but at the end, all is well. As the characters party to the music of I’m Alright, the viewer gets the feeling everything will work out and life will go on. It is a movie, after all. In real life, the consequences of this election could be direr. Things could blow up and we won’t be alright.

In Government We Trust?

            Last week, the anchor on a cable news program announced that fully 63% of Americans don’t trust the government. The alarm in her voice suggested this is a bad thing. I don’t see it that way.

            When I started teaching high school in the mid-eighties, I was required to teach Animal Farm.  For me, that seemingly simple, 125-page novel by George Orwell shed more light on the workings of government and politics than anything I’ve ever read. Because I was teaching the book, I couldn’t just give it a quick read. I had to delve into it, study it, understand its underlying messages and nuances. The more I “delved,” the more I came to recognize the genius behind the book’s simplicity. And like any good work of literature, it raises a lot of questions. Questions such as: What happens when people aren’t educated to think for themselves? When they stray from their founding principles? When they become dependent on government to provide for their every need? When they look to government to solve their every problem? When, little by little, they give up freedoms for comfort or safety? And a biggie—a question I’m sure Orwell, an atheist, never intended to raise—what happens when people trust government as the ultimate Authority and Power?  

            In the mid-nineties, after the collapse of many communist governments, there was a call from some educators to remove Animal Farm from the required reading list in high schools. They considered it no longer relevant. But people who think this book is about the rise of communism have missed the point almost as completely as one of my former students who wrote on a test: The theme of Animal Farm is to show that animals have feelings, too. Notice I said almost. (My reaction to that answer was not one of the finer moments of my teaching career.)

            The overriding theme of Animal Farm—power corrupts. When ANY government gains too much power, it wanders far afoul of its purpose, and it becomes abusive of that power. In almost step-by-step fashion, Orwell—using the rise of the Communist regime in the former Soviet Union as an example—shows how that happens.

             Through his animal characters, he cleverly, humorously, tragically shows factors which contribute to the corruption of government and the downfall of ideas. The reasons are many, and they overlap and intertwine, but basically corruption of government occurs when people no longer hold their elected leaders accountable. They trust them too much. They question them too little.

            Sixty-three percent of Americans don’t trust the government? I’d say that’s a good thing. The day I hear we trust the government one hundred or even ninety percent? That’s when I’ll start worrying.

 PS  Are you a political junkie? Here are some shows that give “interesting” insights into the workings of government. I’m not so totally jaded I think all politics work this way, but these shows definitely underscore the need to keep a watchful eye out. And if it's been a while since you've read Animal Farm, you might re-visit it.

House of Cards – both the BBC and the NetFlix mini-series; Warning: Triple R-rated!

 

 

 

Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister-- BBC sitcom from the 1980s; a hilarious, more lighthearted approach to exposing the shortcomings of government