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Don Draper's America

By Eric L. Lipman

With apologies, this post is not about Administrative Law, but it just might be about ?the public sector....?

Mrs. WTS and I are deeply committed fans (some might say fanatical fans) of the AMC mini-series Mad Men. In fact, we are known to growl at callers who telephone us on Sundays during the broadcast, answering the phone with a perturbed ?What?!?....?

For those of you who are not familiar with this series, it is a highly-stylized portrayal of the early 1960?s, and marks America's tumble toward the sexual, gender and political revolutions that would come at the end of that decade. At the center of the weekly drama is advertising executive Don Draper, whose career ascendancy and crumbling marriage make for plenty of ... well, drama.

And as it is with most Mondays, the latest installment had me thinking. At a key point in last evening's episode, Draper, now estranged from his wife, is approached by Joy, a beautiful siren half his age. She wants Draper to join her at the Palm Springs estate of a friend. Draper, who was on his way to a meeting with clients when he was propositioned, must choose. Provocatively, the young woman purrs: ?Why deny yourself what you want?....?

Apparently unable to muster a single good answer to that question, Draper turns from the path toward his meeting and joins the woman for the car ride into the desert.

The jarring message that Draper communicates is that any of the other possible answers to the young woman's entreaty (such as "I am married to another woman," "I have obligations to my firm," "It would be rude to drive off with you without saying a word to my colleagues who are waiting," etcetera, etcetera, etcetera) would be the replies of a dummy ? or as they might have said in the sixties, "a real square."

While my Mrs. and I await the comeuppance that the show has in store for Draper (if any), the episode had me wondering whether the executive's live for this minute attitude wasn't something we see a lot of today in more ordinary Americans. Given our penchant for consumption, our pyramidding personal and public debts and our woeful inability to save for tomorrow, do any of us today have the strength for self-denial? Do we Americans turn away from the proverbial "Joy" when we really ought to?

And if not, aren't we all Mad Men now?

Full post as published by Within the Scope on October 13, 2008 (boomark / email).