West Side Story was a highly acclaimed play and movie centered on the love of two people with roots in the rivalry between two opposing gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. It was envisioned as a modern-day musical based on William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” in which play the lovers Romeo and Juliet each come from the rivaling families of Montague and Capulet.
Played out in the tenement surrounded streets of New York City in the 1950’s, the Jets and the Sharks are composed of opposing ethnic groups with, they believe, profoundly conflicting cultures.
{mosads}This deep seated hatred preordained that members of the opposing gangs could not conceive of any circumstances that could justify reaching across the divide. As Peter Berger put it in “Invitation to Sociology:” “…all these notions are not only individual assuagements of guilt or status anxiety, but constitute the official self-interpretations of the entire social groups, obligatory for their members on pain of excommunication.”
Who can forget the premise of ultimate gang loyalty ingrained at the outset by one of the first songs: “When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your first cigarette till your last dying day.”
Even the police, counted on to be the honest broker between these groups, were cynically portrayed as favoring one gang over the other.
Against this background, two lovers crossed the divide, enveloping them in an affair that is met with immediate and continued aggressive resistance from members and associates of the opposing ethnic gangs, resulting in the predictably tragic results.
Teenage juveniles in the musical supposed the streets were their domain to be controlled, to be defended against all comers, to provide a stage for their swagger. Outside of a down-to-earth candy store owner “Doc,” a teacher chaperoning a school dance, and a couple police officers, the viewer is hard pressed to find any working class adults portrayed.
Theatergoers view the conflict between the Jets and the Sharks like a romantic tragedy destined to be confined to the stage or screen wrapped in the Oscar winning musical score. They see this as a tragic play in the historic sense with foundations going back to the ancient Greeks.
But can we find similar patterns in modern times? Does the irrational conflict between the Jets and the Sharks have a contemporary stage including an honest broker that cynically favors one side? Does the attitude typical of teenage juveniles show through without regard to working class adults?
Can we look at our own political party system to find these similar patterns? Would they change the words of their opening song to “When you’re a party member, you’re a party member all the way, from your first campaign contribution till your last term in office?”
Does there exist an irrational conflict between the political parties? In “The Hatred Between Republicans and Democrats: The Conflict Within America’s Psyche, Redux” in the Huffington Post, Peter Wolson discussed the “venomous stereotyping of Republicans by Democrats and Democrats by Republicans.”
The Washington Post’s “Our Politics is Polarized on More Issues than Ever Before,” by Thomas Carsey and Geoffrey Layman, begins with the warning that “the Democratic and Republican parties are as far apart on issues of public policy as they have been in at least a half-century.”
Is the media supposed to act as an honest broker to supply unbiased information? Reporters have certainly made their share of errors.
Are the needs and desires of the voting constituents reflected in our political parties?
Peter Schweizer states in the introduction to his book “Extortion” that “Reams of legislation are introduced every year that have very little to do with the politician’s constituents.”
He goes on: “Washington may not be working for citizens, but it’s working quite well for members of the Permanent Political Class who profit handsomely.”
In their book “Reckless Endangerment,” Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner write in their introduction “The American people realize they’ve been robbed.” They followed this with: “…it was the result of actions taken by people at the height of power in both the public and private sectors, people who continue, even now, to hold sway in the corridors of Washington and Wall Street.”
Is there any domain that the rival political parties don’t wrestle over, even the Supreme Court and the various local-level and judicial elections? Can anyone even begin to count the multiple theaters available to the political party politicians that provide a stage for their swagger?
Hardly a night goes by when a member of Congress isn’t interviewed at the media center in the Capitol. Each party has their podiums to expound their rhetoric. Not to mention being interviewed on the TV “news” channels or the talk show circuit.
In its endorsement of Senator Schumer in 2004, “The New York Times” wrote “the biggest jibe about the senator’s performance in office is that he’s never met a microphone or camera he didn’t want to spend more time with.”
The rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks holds true so many years later. I’ll let you decide which party is aligned with which gang. Against this backdrop anyone who crosses the divide will also meet with immediate and continued aggressive resistance from members and associates of the opposing political parties which is “obligatory for their members on pain of excommunication.”
Unfortunately, if this antagonism between the political parties is not checked, we may all suffer tragic consequences.
John M. DeMaggio is a retired Special Agent in Charge and retired Captain in the U.S. Navy. The above is the opinion of the author and is not meant to reflect the opinion of the U.S. Navy or the U.S. Government.
The views expressed by contributors are their own and not the views of The Hill.