In Defense of Frank Capra, Rodgers & Hammerstein, & “Theo of Golden” (Louis Markos, September 13th, 2026, Imaginative Conservative)
The core message of Capra’s films, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musicals, and Levi’s novel, what makes them so beloved by so many Americans, is best summed up in a rousing speech from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The honest but naïve Jefferson Smith is chosen by the corrupt political party of his state to serve out the term of their flunky in the Senate who died suddenly. Jeff takes his cues from senior Senator Paine who knew his father and whom Jeff idolizes. When Jeff learns that Paine has compromised and is in the pocket of the ruthless businessman Taylor, he speaks up, only to be framed for the very crime he tried to expose. He flees to the Lincoln Memorial, prepared to give up the fight and return to his state. There he is met by his secretary, Clarissa Saunders, who, though she has not approved of Paine’s corruption, has succumbed to cynicism and apathy.
But Jeff has woken something decent and hopeful in her. She meets him at his moment of deepest despair and challenges him to renew his faith and hope in himself and the country he loves:
Your friend, Mr. Lincoln had his Taylors and Paines. So did every other man who ever tried to lift his thought up off the ground. Odds against them didn’t stop those men. They were fools that way. All the good that ever came into this world came from fools with faith like that. You know that, Jeff. You can’t quit now. Not you. They aren’t all Taylors and Paines in Washington. That kind just throw big shadows, that’s all. You didn’t just have faith in Paine or any other living man. You had faith in something bigger than that. You had plain, decent, everyday, common rightness, and this country could use some of that. Yeah, so could the whole cockeyed world, a lot of it.
Rarely has the true, optimistic but realistic, idealistic but conservative, quixotic but practical ethos of America been so clearly stated. There is evil in the world that is manipulated by self-aggrandizing individuals, but there is also a goodness and a rightness in people that can overcome the corruption. Good is stronger than evil, but it too often lacks focus, confidence, and vision. There is no Rousseauvian denial of original sin here. Sin is real and predatory, and no one is immune from its ravages. But there is a bigger picture, a larger hope that we have lost sight of. We need fools—dare I say holy fools—like Jefferson Smith to wake us up to what we know is true. The villains are so brash and bold that they cow us into believing that they are the majority, that their theories and methods are unassailable, that we cannot resist their will. They give us only two options: Join the team or be crushed. Jeff finds a third way.
Recognizing our Fallenness does not exempt us from trying to be decent, even loving, towards one another.