Lori Falce: I want to vote for Jimmy Stewart

Dec. 2—When you ask people what they think we need in government, you can get a wide variety of answers.

We need more conservatives. We need more liberals. More progressives. More hardliners. More Christians. More business people. More people with experience. Fewer millionaires. More "real" people. There is no shortage of opinions.

So here is mine.

We need more Jimmy Stewarts. We need more Morgan Freemans. Martin Sheens, Michael Douglases, Alan Aldas, Harrison Fords. Hell, I'd even take a Reese Witherspoon in "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde." I'm really not picky.

What we need is more of this template — politicians (fictional, unfortunately) who didn't need to court caucuses to get things done. The ones who came to Washington with an intent to help people and actually did that.

It's not about party. Stewart's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is a master class in idealism that goes beyond affiliation. I'd take a fiscally conservative, small-government minded Republican Arnie Vinick (Alda's role on "The West Wing") in a heartbeat. Can you tell me what party Bill Pullman's President Thomas Whitmore was in "Independence Day?" I really can't tell.

And these are wildly popular characters in a way that real politicians aren't. Because they aren't real, it seems that people are able to look past political labels when it comes to identifying with values they admire.

But then we come back to reality, where you can never be far enough away from the center for your party or close enough to it for the opposition.

Pennsylvania is now home to a new franchise of the Freedom Caucus, a conservative Republican circle in which compromise is a dirty word.

"People don't vote for Republicans to come to their state Capitol and work out deals in the backroom with leftist Democrats," U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Harrisburg, told Pennlive.com.

Except they do. Oh, not in the seedy, organized crime way Perry suggests, but the reality of representative government is not supposed to be about the party in power crushing the opposition with superior numbers. It is supposed to be about doing what is best for the constituents in common cause with others, regardless of party. That means that sometimes Republicans and Democrats work together to get stuff done.

And while they may forget sometimes amid the heat of electoral battle, the people know that. They recognize it when they watch an idealized version of a politician on television or in a movie.

I want to feel the calm, steady hand of Freeman at the wheel in "Deep Impact." I want to know any leader with the sense of duty Glenn Close showed as Ford's vice president in "Air Force One." I want a government written with the respect and responsibility of Aaron Sorkin's political world.

I won't get it. Sheen's Jed Bartlet never had to really get elected, and in today's political climate he never could. None of those fictional politicians could.

But wouldn't we all be better off if we expected a little less Freedom Caucus and a little more Jimmy Stewart from our leaders?

Lori Falce is a Tribune-Review community engagement editor. You can contact Lori at lfalce@triblive.com.