I was turned onto CBS’s new series Jericho by a friend who really liked the premise and said I should check it out.   Having already missed the primer episode I went to my trusty iTunes store and downloaded that first episode for $1.99 and watched it on my computer. 

That’s back when this was a show about the struggle for survival in post-nuclear America.  Real middle-Americans the people who pull themselves up by their bootstraps every day and make this country work.   When the rest of the country is gone, they keep doing it.

One of those most impressive moments in the premier episode was Mayor Johnston Green (Gerald McRaney) looks at the state emergency plan which stated simply, “stay calm and wait for instructions from the Governor.”  The mayor then reacts disgustedly at the lack of process for reacting to such a crisis.  His instinct was to do something… anything.   Seeing this I knew that Mayor Green could have saved many lives had he been in New Orleans for hurricane Katrina.

The people of Jericho didn’t wait for FEMA, they worked harder, despite a lack of electricity, an external food supply and any other lack of modern conveniences.  They came together, showed that American spirit, ingenuity and resolve to survive.

Basically, real Americans doing real American work.

Then came the winter season break.

Jericho returned in February, but something had changed.  Subtly but, like clockwork each episode has featured at least one left-leaning ideal.

First there was the idea that life is better without fossil fuel. One character suggested that windmills would be able to provide electricity for the town. Yes this may seem like splitting hairs when it comes to the plot of the show. Without a gasoline supply to power the town’s generator finding an alternative energy supply.   However it was her exact words that when taken out of context of the show repeat those of anti-carbon environmentalists. “If we had working windmills we wouldn’t have rely on diesel at all.” Of course the more anti-energy environmentalist would complain that birds get caught up in windmills; however that’s a tangent we will not follow.  More on windmills follows.

A week later when our heroes had ventured to a trading post area they received their first news from the outside world.   Among the news items: Mexico had closed its borders and was no longer allowing US Citizens in.   On the surface this is a role reversal to show Americans how the policy of protecting their own borders can be unfair. If one looks at the situation deeper they realize that Mexico Immigration laws are such that their borders are virtually closed already.  However the real flaw in this story element is that the writers believe that Americans run from adversity.  American’s don’t run from danger. They run to, and face it head on. My own great-uncle, upon hearing of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, left the mill he was working in to enlist in the Marines.   After 9/11 countless stories could be shared of young men and women who were willing to go to war (an inevitability) at the tender ages of 18, 19 and so forth.

When the first working windmill arrives from the next town over an agreement is made that leads to a deal for a number of subsequent windmills.  The deal is ten percent of Jericho’s spring crop for ten windmills.   The new mayor of Jericho says this is unfair but reluctantly agrees. The first thing you learn in any economics class is that voluntary transactions are mutually beneficial.  Since one party wanted windmills and the other party wanted food this seems to work out.  We know there are other towns out there, most likely with other resources available to share.  This means potentially more mutually beneficial transactions.  Here we are being told that if someone is trying to sell you something you’re being screwed.  If all purveyors of goods adopted this attitude there would be no more customers.

SPOILER WARNING: If you have not seen up to the episode “A K A” please skip the next paragraph.

In what would be the most far-reaching and absurd case of leftist ideology in the series we find that the mastermind of the multiple city nuclear attack is none other than the director of homeland security. While his motivation is still a mystery, this is a fairly unbelievable plot twist.  The director of homeland security’s primary mission is to NOT allow terrorist attacks on American soil.  But even deeper this is a position created by the Patriot Act, that little piece of legislation that allows law enforcement to protect American citizens from attacks within our country.   This has been a bane in the existence of liberals for some time.   Any attempt to delegitimize or vilify this law is part of the American left’s attempt to change the minds of voters.  Even if it is done through the prism of a moderately-rated fictional TV drama.

SPOILERS END HERE.

Yes, drama relies on conflict. Without certain conflicts this show would be little more than happy people living happily because their cell phones stopped ringing.  But the drama relied upon to make this series continue is such that it is becoming more and more unrealistic. The series started out with so much potential.  Unfortunately much of that potential has been focused in the wrong direction.   I don’t know if most critics will say that this show has jumped the shark, but for me if a show abandons traditional American values and beliefs, it already has.

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