West Wing Politics
Estate-tax proponents have a mighty lobbying partner.

Tom Nugent is Executive Vice President & Chief Investment Officer PlanMember Advisors, Inc.
November 6, 2001, 8:00 a.m.

he television hit of last season and so far this season is West Wing, an intense fictional display of the U.S. federal government in action. Martin Sheen, real-life agitator and activist, plays the role of the President of the United States. In November of 2000, Mr. Sheen was arrested in Fort Benning, Georgia, for demonstrating against the School of the Americas. He was also arrested for supporting the United Farm Workers union in a 1997 protest in California. In a recent interview, Sheen said, "My chief concern is the ongoing proliferation of weapons and the militarism that this country has opted for and [the extent to which it has] disregarded the poor and the marginal." During the Emmy ceremonies last year, Dick Clark asked Sheen if he had any political ambitions. His answer was no. However, for millions of Americans who ogle over his highly rated TV program, Martin Sheen is the president. And he's getting his left-leaning message out.

West Wing has made an interesting transition this season: the once-fictional program has taken on more than a passing similarity to current political developments in Washington, D.C. Recent debates regarding major tax reform, specifically the repeal of the estate tax, is playing a pivotal role in more than one episode of West Wing this year. While Democrats and Republicans argue vehemently over the advantages and disadvantages of the estate tax in Washington, the powers that be in Hollywood are lobbying the West Wing's audience to think "beyond the box" in regards to this real-world political debate.

The not-so-coincidental abhorrence to the repeal of the estate tax on the show adds another dimension to biased lobbying. Unfortunately, Hollywood dominates the media stage so that there will be only one side of the story told - the one it wants you to hear. There won't be a fair presentation of the other side, the conservative side. You won't be given the opportunity to consider the real reasons for the elimination of the estate tax because that would compete with the liberal bias of this show.

We've seen this before from Hollywood, although not on a weekly basis. There was the movie Dave, starring Kevin Kline, a story about a man who gets the job of impersonating the president after the real chief executive has an almost-fatal stroke. The new Dave challenges all of "his" previous conservative positions, and becomes "loved" by both the audience and his estranged wife (Sigourney Weaver). This imposter becomes the nice guy who takes care of the poor and undermines the big, bad capitalists.

Then there was American President, starring Michael Douglas. Although there is an overall romantic theme to this film - he is a widower who falls in love with a lobbyist played by Annette Bening (the wife of real-life liberal and wannabe presidential contender Warren Beatty) — the undertones of left-wing liberalism permeate virtually all of the non-romantic scenes. Of course, the director goes out of his way to make Democrats look like they care and the Republicans look like they don't.

Recently, in the movie the Contender, Jeff Bridges, a very talented and attractive actor, plays the president. Of course, he is the good-guy Democrat who outwits the bad-guy Republican - for good reason. The Republicans are portrayed as being out to undermine the appointment of a female vice president by using baseless accusations of sex activities in college. How could Republicans recover after that fiasco?

All of these movies were entertaining. But beneath the surface there was another agenda being promoted. Indeed, we cannot underestimate the subliminal message that is being driven into the minds of unsuspecting American moviegoers: being liberal is good and being conservative is bad.West Wing remains an exciting political drama that lives up to it's billing, but it shouldn't be used as a tool to influence the voters. The bill to eliminate the estate tax is under consideration in Congress, and lobbying for keeping the estate tax now takes place every Wednesday night on NBC. More than one legislator could receive mail from constituents asking that he votes against estate-tax repeal based solely on the biased dialogue that takes place during these West Wing episodes.

Telling stories about the political process is okay, but when a program's themes have the potential of influencing or manipulating current political debate, then fairness is gone. Do we have to wait until Martin Sheen, as President Josiah "Jeb" Bartlett, comes out against fighting terrorism in the name of humanity or some other far-fetched reason? Of course, at the point, the show's producers will respond that the storyline is just coincidental reflection of real-world events. I won't buy it and neither should you.