I recently started watching Downton Abbey on PBS. And while the series isn’t the most revolutionary, I was amazed at its immense popularity. At its basic core, Downton Abbey is nothing more than a period soap opera, but beyond that its appeal can be summoned in one word: civility. This trait is a very telling aspect of its audience who longs to see fiction turned into reality.
Set between 1912-1920, Downton Abbey focuses on the relationships between the Crowley family and their servants. Unlike popular soap operas of the past, Dallas, Day of our Lives and Dynasty, Downton Abbey’s plots and characters never stray into the cheap and tawdry. Quite the opposite, instead the family’s patriarch and leading servants, strive to instill and display values of integrity and honor to everyone who enters the estate that is Downton.
Watching the series is a master class in British etiquette, and yet it is so sad to see customs that have fallen aside. Downton Abbey maybe a fictional world of manners, but something must be said in that it has captured the attention of so many. And yet, this degeneration of social mores in our culture has not just filtered into our personal relationships, but our politics, mass entertainment culture and business practices. In Washington it’s crippling our ability to self-govern and paralyzing our dreams for the future.
With Republican Convention set to begin next week, and the Democratic Convention the week after, I would urge party strategists to take note. After the absurd chains comment by Vice President Biden, and the absolutely stupid rape statement made by Representative Aiken, it’s time for both parties to take notice. Americans are frustrated with Washington’s continued mission to ideologically divide this country and with the juvenile gotcha moments that seem to drive both parties’ daily agenda.
As each nominee finalizes his convention speech, let their respective nights be a moment of statesmanship. Between fiscal cliffs, a disappearing middle class, and uncertainty throughout the world, time is too precious to focus on distractions and wars of media messaging destruction. President Obama and Governor Romney should take a page from Downton Abbey, and exhibit the best of American politics, not the worst. There is no shame, only honor, in restoring our values.