How Is Leslie Knope's View Of Government

In 2009, NBC released a political comedy called: Parks and Rec. The Emmy-nominated American sitcom takes place in the fictional town of Pawnee. The show tells the story of Leslie Knope, a bureaucrat in the Parks and Recreation department, becoming the first female governor of Indiana. Parks and Rec examines the complexity within bureaucracies using the characters selected to work in the department. All the employees are good, well-meaning people. However, the main commentary comes from Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson. Through these two characters, the show presents the struggle between traditional liberalism and classic libertarianism and how that struggle plays out in modern government. Although Leslie and Ron are main sources of commentary,

Leslie Knope’s views of government present the ideals of a traditional liberal. She believes that government needs to be involved in people’s lives as much as possible. Equality and equal opportunity are just a few of the many things Leslie believes government should facilitate. Ultimately, it is the government’s job to improve the lives of the populace. The driving factor for Leslie is to know that she made Pawnee a better place for the citizens. Her motivation to make Pawnee a better place comes from her high opinions of all her favorite people in government. She aspires to be like her idols and to do so acts the way she thinks they would. When Leslie sets her mind to something, she does not stop until it is accomplished. The Pawnee Commons is a good example. At the beginning of the show the Pawnee Commons was a massive pit that Leslie wanted to turn into an angelic park. However, stalled by bureaucratic red tape and backstabbing attempts from people such as Jeremy Jamm, Leslie did not break ground on the Pawnee Commons until season six. Once she broke ground, there was no stopping her and she finished

Every character has their own personal reason for joining government work. Ron illustrates the do-nothing bureaucrat. He allows Leslie to do his work for him because of his views on government. The only reason Ron works in government is “to shut things down and bleed the rotting beast from the inside.” Leslie, on the other hand, joins the government because she genuinely likes the work and appreciates all the changes that she can make for the citizens of Pawnee. At first, she is a small name, but she has a big ego. Her ego, to be like her heroes from childhood, drives her to accomplish her dream. However, to get there she must become the best civil servant she can be, and she is up to the task. Then we have Tom Haverford. Born Darwish Sabir Ismael Gani, Tom changed his name because he thought “brown people with funny-sounding Muslim names didn’t have a chance in politics.” Tom represents the cool guy in the office who only cares about himself. Throughout the show, Tom is always seen looking sharp. He is also put in charge of multiple events and instead of doing what he is supposed to do, he turns it into a promotion session for himself and his endeavors. One example of this occurs when Tom is asked by Leslie to coordinate a meet and greet so she can promote herself to local business owners. Consequently, Leslie finds out that Tom has turned her event into a promotion event for his