THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN 4
Running head: THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN 1
The Distinguished Gentleman
Patricia Mwathi
Collin University
The Distinguished Gentleman is a 1992 movie about political comedy starred by Eddie Murphy. Jonathan Lynn directed the film and amongst other stars includes Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lane Smith, James Garner, Joe Don Baker, Charles S. Dutton, Kevin McCarthy, and Chi McBride among others (King, 2017). The plot of the film focuses on the politics, more specifically it looks at what the Congress and lobbyists do in order to achieve what they want in Washington D.C (King, 2017).
In the film, when Congressman Jeff Johnson of Florida passes on, a trickster, Thomas Jefferson Johnson sees his death as an opportunity to con his way to the Congress. The death, coming as it did during an electioneering period provided the perfect opportunity for the scam artist to put trickery to practice in a bid to be the next Congressman. For the special elections that ensued, Thomas put his name on the ballot just as Jeff Johnson to resemble that of the recently deceased Congressman in an elaborate scheme to confuse the voters. What the freshman Congressman did was to omit his first name, and then abbreviate his middle name wherein he ended up calling himself “Jeff” Johnson. In such a case, he managed to appeal on the name recognition by figuring out that most voters will not pay much attention but vote for the name they know, getting endorsement from Silver Foxes organization, using the deceased Congressman’s campaign material, and conducting a low budget campaign somehow conspired to have him elected albeit with a slim margin.
On taking up his seat in Washington, he discovers the trickery and the corruption that defines politics in America and embarks on a journey of putting his con-artistry into real use of pulling scams and blackmails. He soon finds out that in the Congress, lobbyists dictate the pace, and bribery rules the proceedings, and it is easy to get rich quick and again bow down to the weight of scandal. The constitution of the United States has defined rules dictating how representatives are elected. This came after a series of amendments that brought the constitution to be in consonant with the realities of the time. It is in keeping with procedures that follow the demise of a candidate during the electioneering period that in the special elections that followed that Thomas Jefferson Johnson got elected. The power of lobby groups was evident as the Silver Foxes organization endorsed him and funded his election bid. The catch here is that once Thomas was in the Congress, he will spearhead the agenda of the organization and ensure that their interests are taken care of. According to the constitution, the roles of Congress solely centers on the following passing of rules known as lawmaking, lay and collect taxes, imposing duties, dealing with indebtedness and bankruptcy, and borrow and coin money among others. Considering the fact that Congress has a lot of roles amongst them including the roles related to financing, this is what the first-time Congressman needed to capitalize as con artistry.
As such, the first-time Congressman was to see on a wide scale the power of the lobbyists in the Congress as he comes face to face with blatant bribery and arm-twisting the lobbies engage in as they dictate the tempo of the proceedings, and the outcome of policy making processes. In most occasions, legislators come to care about some issues as compared to others because as highlighted in the module, they sometimes have no choice. Unfortunately, as evident in the film, Congressmen do not entirely act in public interest, but they are beholden to personal interests and those of the lobbyists. The resultant policy made in most cases end up being a compromise that resulted from interests of groups, think tanks, intellectuals, lobby groups, and media among others. Since politics and some dirty tricks are involved in every step, this is how politicians end up being bribed and arm-twisted as depicted in the film. That is how it was difficult to discuss issues to do with reforms in campaign finance, protection of the environment and whether electric power contributes to cancer in kids.
Any congressman can introduce legislation according to the constitution, but Congressman Johnson at one time was double-crossed by Dick Dodge the Chairman of the Committee on Power and Industry when the bill was referred to the committee (King, 2017). It was the beginning of the desire by Johnson to revenge, seeing that the chairman had curtailed discussion of an issue that was his pet. Johnson fought back using a con approach, which is the only way that he knows. As such, Johnson succeeded and exposed Dodge as a corrupt Congressman; once again, Johnson was acting on his own interest, not on the interest of the electorates. Towards the end of the film, it is quite evident that the manner in which Johnson got elected was going to catch up with him as he was going to be thrown out of the Congress; however, he was defiant and claimed the following “I’m gonna run for President!”
In this film, it is very much evident that legislators mind about specific issues more than others and would initiate their discussion in the house seeing that those are the issues their constituents care about. However, the film shows that bribery and the power of lobbyists plays a role in what the legislators support or bring on the floor of the house. The interests of the constituents play a peripheral role as money matters most to the politicians. Despite the clutches of lobbyists, their conscience is at times touched. It happened to Johnson as he was quoted saying, “Well I’ve got to do something to help these people.” To which Celia Kirby retorted, “Don’t tell me you’re actually developing a conscience” (King, 2017). As such, the film factors in the element of policy symbolism. Since most Congressman would act based on their interest, in particular fulfilling the interests of a lobby group, they will tend to vote on certain issues for the purpose of showing their caring instincts regardless of the policy chances of success.
Reference
King, J. (2017). The Distinguished Gentleman 1992 Full Movie. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6zbI1wqS5A