The West Wing may have begun its run over 15 years ago, but many West Wing quotes are still shockingly relevant to today’s political atmosphere.
Full disclosure: I just started watching The West Wing for the first time. Don’t ask me why I’m only getting around to it now. In my defense, I tend to prefer genre shows over drama, and I don’t have much interest in politics, but I’m kicking myself for not making this series a part of my life sooner.
The pilot episode is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Usually you allow a show that small grace period to find itself, to gain its footing before deciding whether or not it’s worth investing your time in. I never had to do that with The West Wing. Each episode got better and better, right up until the explosive finale.
As I was watching this show for the first time, I was constantly astounded by the fact that these characters were having the same conversations we’re having right now. Gun control. Marriage equality. Healthcare. The outdated cell phones are just about the only thing that gives away the fact this show didn’t take place in 2016.
It’s a testament to Aaron Sorkin and his team that they tackled the prominent issues of their time, perhaps even anticipating what would be bigger conversations down the line. It’s also sad to see that we’re still having those same conversations in real life more than 15 years later.
The best ‘West Wing’ quotes
Here are the best West Wing quotes from season 1 that are still profoundly relevant today.
Cell phones and airplanes
Flight Attendant: Sir, I’m going to have to ask that you turn off your cellular phone.
Toby: We’re flying in a Lockheed Eagle Series L-1011. Came off the line twenty months ago. Carries a Sim-5 transponder tracking system. And you’re telling me I can still flummox this thing with something I bought at Radio Shack?
Privacy and the internet
Sam: It’s not just about abortion, it’s about the next 20 years. Twenties and Thirties it was the role of government, Fifties and Sixties it was civil rights. The next two decades it’s gonna be privacy. I’m talking about the Internet. I’m talking about cell phones. I’m talking about health records and who’s gay and who’s not. And moreover, in a country born on the will to be free, what could be more fundamental than this?
Sex education in public schools
Josh: We commissioned a report about a year ago on Sex Education in public schools, and, well, this is it.
C.J.: What’s it say?
Josh: It’s not good.
C.J.: How’s it not good?
Josh: It says basically that teaching ‘abstinence only’ doesn’t work—that people are going to be prone to have sex whether they’re cautioned against it or not.
C.J.: Well, what are they recommending?
Josh: Something called “abstinence plus”.
C.J.: Abstinence plus?
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: What’s that mean?
Josh: Well, Sam’s renamed it ‘everything but’.
C.J.: Everything but?
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: Ah.
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: They want teachers to teach…
Josh: Yes.
C.J.: And so the sticky wicket joke was..?
Josh: A regrettable pun. Should I order you some food?
The death penalty and religion
Toby: The Torah doesn’t prohibit capital punishment.
Rabbi Glassman: No.
Toby: It says, ‘An eye for an eye’.
Rabbi Glassman: You know what it also says? It says a rebellious child can be brought to the city gates and stoned to death. It says homosexuality is an abomination and punishable by death. It says men can be polygamous and slavery is acceptable. For all I know, that thinking reflected the best wisdom of its time, but it’s just plain wrong by any modern standard. Society has a right to protect itself, but it doesn’t have a right to be vengeful. It has a right to punish, but it doesn’t have a right to kill.
Politics
Jeff Breckenridge: You got a dollar?
Josh: Yeah.
Jeff Breckenridge: Take it out. Look at the back. The seal, the pyramid, it’s unfinished, with the eye of God looking over it, and the words annuit coeptis — he, God, favors our undertaking. The seal is meant to be unfinished, because this country’s meant to be unfinished. We’re meant to keep doing better. We’re meant to keep discussing and debating. And, we’re meant to read books by great historical scholars and then talk about them…
Education
Sam: Education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don’t need little changes. We need gigantic revolutionary changes. Schools should be palaces. Competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be getting six-figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge for its citizens, just like national defense. That is my position. I just haven’t figured out how to do it yet.
Homosexuality and the military
Major Tate: Sir, we’re not prejudiced toward homosexuals.
Admiral Fitzwallace: You just don’t want to see them serving in the Armed Forces?
Major Tate: No, sir, I don’t.
Admiral Fitzwallace: ‘Cause they impose a threat to unit discipline and cohesion.
Major Tate: Yes, sir.
Admiral Fitzwallace: That’s what I think, too. I also think the military wasn’t designed to be an instrument of social change.
Major Tate: Yes, sir.
Admiral Fitzwallace: The problem with that is, that’s what they were saying to me fifty years ago. “Blacks shouldn’t serve with whites. It would disrupt the unit.” You know what? It did disrupt the unit. The unit got over it. The unit changed. I’m an admiral in the U.S. Navy and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff… Beat that with a stick.
New Jersey
Bonnie: [after Josh told the Senate Majority Leader to “shove his legislative agenda up [his] ass”] Rambo!
Josh: You talking to me?
Bonnie: Nice phone call.
Josh: That’s how we do things in New England, my friends.
Bonnie: In Indiana, we’re not allowed to talk like that.
Ginger: In New Jersey, we encourage it.
Voting
Bartlet: Here’s another one. Two politicians are having an argument. One of them stands up and says, “You’re lying!” The other one answers, “Yes, I am, but hear me out.” [audience laughs]
Moderator: Mr. President, do you have time for one more question?
Bartlet: I don’t think I answered the last one. Suzanne’s got me telling jokes. Here’s an answer to your question that I don’t think you’re going to like: the current crop of 18-25 year olds is the most politically apathetic generation in American history. In 1972, half of that age group voted. In the last election, 32%. Your generation is considerably less likely than any previous one to write or call public officials, attend rallies, or work on political campaigns. A man once said this, “decisions are made by those who show up.” So are we failing you, or are you failing us? It’s a little of both.
