Washington is like the board room of many corporations... you either go along to get along or you don’t get in or you don’t stay in. The deal is too good to pass up for most people who get in that are not already corrupted and they don’t want anyone to stay in who may queer the deal.
Mr. Smith got smashed when he went to Washington. The ending is a true fairy tale though because nothing good ever happens in the end in Washington or anywhere else in politics for that matter. There is money for the greedy, power for the evil and approbation for the insecure in politics. The scene has not changed since this classic movie was made in 1939, only the players have changed and the technology. We still have the same corrupt and corruptible small minded evil people dominating politics. Real, useful, wholesome people do not generally seek such a foul path unless, in a weak moment of idealism think they can change things for the good. Politics is largely populated by those of our society who are of the lowest character but too cowardly to be honest crooks.
If politicians were properly schooled in the use of firearms they might be able to do the right thing as Senator Paine, a villain in the movie, tried to do and failed. Frankly though I doubt any politicians still have the honor and integrity left to feel shame as Senator Paine did in the movie.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Smith_Goes_to_Washington
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX8aFpnWxPA&feature=related
There was an element of political correctness then as well. You must not say anything unflattering about he politicians. We continue to allow people we have selected from our own ranks to live as elites, as minor gods who are set upon pedestals and can’t be attacked for their weaknesses, mistakes and outright corruption. Who sets them up to that... they don’t discourage it do they?
In January 1938, both Paramount Pictures and MGM had submitted Foster’s story to the censors at the Hays Office, probably indicating that both studios had interest in the project before Columbia purchased it. Joseph Breen, the head of that office, warned the studios: “[W]e would urge most earnestly that you take serious counsel before embarking on the production of any motion picture based on this story. It looks to us like one that might well be loaded with dynamite, both for the motion picture industry, and for the country at large.” Breen specifically objected to “the generally unflattering portrayal of our system of Government, which might well lead to such a picture being considered, both here, and more particularly abroad, as a covert attack on the Democratic form of government.” and warned that the film should make clear that”the Senate is made up of a group of fine, upstanding citizens, who labor long and tirelessly for the best interests of the nation...”