Blog 2

“The Gang Runs for Office

The episode begins with the gang in the bar and Mac coming in and complaining about the state liquor tax. Dee tells them if they don’t like it they can vote to avoid these taxes. They complain that it doesn’t work because both sides have bad policies. Frank states that some politicians run to make money out of it by soliciting a bribe to drop out. This makes the gang decide to run for political position and make money out of it. Mac, Charlie, and Frank argue as to who should be Dennis manager for his candidacy. Dennis and Charlie go into the mall talking to people as to why he’s a good candidate and try to make a scene to boost his campaign. Mac tries to solicit a bribe from a union but they trick him into making Dennis drop out. When Mac tells Dennis to drop out, Dennis tells him that he wants to actually run which makes Mac and Frank ,who is mad about not being the campaign manager, to make an advertisement slandering Dennis’s campaign. He trades the tape for Charlies’ card collection but when he talks to Dennis he is told that he is dropping out of the race. Mac goes back to the union after hearing Dennis quit, but gets stop midway by cops who bribe him.

The episode deals with how politicians aren’t just greedy people and running for a government position isn’t just pandering to the public with small acts. Frank’s statement that politicians are just in it for the money can be compare to the public’s opinion that politicians are greedy. This idea makes people generalize all politicians as greedy which leads to some candidates that are actually running to better government policies to be viewed in a bad way. When Mac goes to solicit a bribe we see how the union leaders see how bad informed he is and decide to just prank him. Dennis and Charlie start to do what think politicians do to win by creating a speech and going into the mall to try to appeal to the public. These actions show how bad informed they are because they can’t even come up with a reasonable statement to attract voters. The show also repeats this statement “that’s how politics work” which shows how uneducated people are about the U.S political system. Politics is way more complex than people running to get money, and to generalize all politicians this way makes it hard to differentiate who has the better intention and policies. As the article “The Relationship Between Television and Culture” states about television in the 70’s, ” By the end of the decade, television broadcasting reflected a far more politically conscious and socially aware viewing audience. ” This episode helps its audience to become politically conscious by pushing them to learn more about the U.S political system.