10,000 Miles in Your Shoes

Chapter Two – Democracy: Verb or Noun?

Note: The italics are a letter Danielle is writing to her brother, Daniel, who is serving in the military. Enjoy!

Dear Dani,

How is life in the barracks? Yeah, I know you are wondering why I even ask. I'm doing well although I miss my office and free time. I should tell you about Tuesday while I have lunch. It's normally my only free time until late – or early. I might not have an actual job here, but I am eternally busy. I already told you about my first day. But starting Tuesday we had a whole new debate to debate. It all started with an essay contest.

"Dani, can you look up some information on the Democracy Now! essay contest?" Josh asked, stopping by her desk early Tuesday morning.

"Sure Josh. I will drop everything including this time-sensitive required report to my boss." She joked. Only Josh didn't seem to get it. He worked around some of the most sarcastic people, Toby especially, and yet Josh Lyman still had trouble recognizing it. "Thanks." Suddenly his eyes widened. "You've been talking to Donna."

"Naturally. When do you need the info by?"

"Well five minutes ago would have been nice, but can you get it to me in five?"

"Sure." Danielle smiled. Her second day seemed to be going better than her first. Josh had apologized to her and she felt confident she would win over the staff. Already the aides seemed to realize she wasn't carrying bubonic plague they were friendly. Apparently word had passed quickly through the whispers in hallways that Danielle could hold her own against Josh. Danielle saved a draft of her report and began researching.

Democracy Now! has an annual essay contest. The theme varies from year to year but it always has something to do with democracy and government's role in society. This year they ask the question, "Is democracy a verb or noun? Which do you believe it should be?" The high school juniors and seniors were required to use two quotes to support their position. In all, it was a typical essay contest. However, the winner this year changed more than his tuition bill.

"Here you go Josh." Danielle said, dropping off the facts.

"Thanks Dani. You can get back to that all important note to your boss."

"Actually I was wondering if I could run something by you."

"Dani, I need to go brief Toby on this. He'll need to see this." Once again Danielle was pushed aside. It was a fresh wakeup call to the reminder she wasn't wanted in the West Wing, no matter how much the President liked her.

"Fine. I'll go with you and pitch the idea to Toby." Josh looked skeptical.

I knew what he was thinking. I could argue – and embarrass – Josh. Going against Toby was a different story. Sometimes the Senior Staff can't hold their own against Toby. I've heard he's extremely stubborn. But you know me Dani. I wasn't about to give up. I had an idea and while it might have been one of my childish feather-brained ideas I intended to tell someone. If it had to be Toby, so be it. I followed Josh to Toby's office where freakishly enough we all had the same idea.

"Toby I think the President should read this and meet the student." Danielle quickly spoke before anyone else had a choice. Only she wasn't expecting Josh to look somewhat dumbstruck. Danielle put a copy of the essay on his desk, watching as Toby snatched it, reading. "I agree." Josh spoke. "This kid summarized our democracy in 1,000 words and managed to suggest ways the Democratic Party can win in the next election without coming out and saying it."

Toby glanced up. "This kid writes better than I do. And nobody writes better than I do."

"How does one do that?" Danielle teased quietly.

"Carefully." Josh warned as if to say don't touch Toby's writing pride with a ten foot pole.

"I want to present this to the President." She offered.

"No, Toby needs to do it. He's head of Communications."

Now don't go getting all railed up. You know when I tell people a story I don't do it concisely. I only do that for work. I suppose I was mad that I didn't get to present, refused so flatly. But it isn't a good idea to stay angry long. Too many things were at stake. I ate my fried tofu sesame salad early since I wanted to finish my report before I had a briefing to attend. Yet as soon as I sat down to finish it, I realized I couldn't concentrate. My mind kept going back to that high school senior. Was he involved in politics? How did he get to be such a good writer? Did he need a job?

So I hurried through the report, sending it off to my boss in L.A. Then came research. There was little online about the guy, whose name was Alexander Song. I didn't know if I had F.B.I. clearance yet so that was out of the question. Anyway, how much information could be in an eighteen year olds F.B.I. file ?So I found the town where he lived and went to an online phone database. At this point I could tell I would be late for C.J.'s press briefing. And yet I didn't care. I knew Toby would brief the President, so if I couldn't do it myself I wanted him to be as informed as possible.

"Mrs. Song?" Danielle asked to the lady who answered the phone. "Is Alexander there?"

"Yes, hold on a second."

Within a minute Danielle was talking to a typical teenager. That was, until he found out what she did. "Alexander…" She began.

"Zander." He corrected as if this had happened many times before.

"I'm Danielle Lancer from the White House…"

Suddenly his tone brightened and Danielle imagined a huge grin gracing his face. "You work for the President?"

"Yes. I wanted to ask you a few questions about your Democracy Now! essay."

"Only if I get to ask you what it is like to work in the West Wing." Danielle hesitated at his ultimatum. It was only her second day. What information could she give him that was positive?

"Sure, that's fine Zander. So how long have you been involved in politics?"

"Well…" And so began a two hour long conversation between the two of them. By the end of the discussion Danielle had enough notes to kill someone with. "Thanks I'll keep in touch." She finished.

"You're welcome. Have a nice day Danielle." He concluded, formally ending it. Danielle smiled as she put the phone back, checking the time. The evening Senior Staff wasn't for another two hours and so Danielle was left to her own devices. Or at least go to Josh to see what still needed to be done.

"Hey Dani!" Donna greeted Danielle. "Do you want to see Josh?"

"Yes, unless you know what I need to do."

"Um…" Donna shuffled through a stack of papers. "I think C.J. needed some help."

"Thanks Donna." Danielle walked to C.J.'s office, finding her on the phone. "No that's not what I meant Mark…" She argued, holding up a hand to say 'hold on.' So Danielle patiently waited. When C.J. got off the phone she spoke. "What can I do for you?"

"Donna said you had something for me to do. I've got two hours to kill."

C.J.'s eyes lit up. "Mark keeps arguing with me about something in the Pentagon."

"And you want me to research…"

"The building of the Pentagon."

"I suppose I'm just a research lackey." Danielle commented quietly.

By the reaction on Claudia Jean's face as she looked up surprised, I saw what the Senior Staff saw me as. They saw me as a tool. Not a person, not someone who could contribute more than research. I was hurt. I didn't honestly think that I was going to be making policy decisions – or influencing. But I did think I would be doing more than researching and doing assistant work. I saw a sense of guilt behind her blue eyes.

"When would you like it by?" She finally asked in the awkward silence that followed.

"Could you get it to be before Senior Staff?"

"Sure."

Little did I know, my comment had struck a chord with C.J. Just as soon as I left her office she high-tailed it right to Leo's office. And apparently she was quite passionate in her speech to him in my defense.

"C.J." Margaret commented as the press secretary walked in.

"Hey Margaret. Is he in?"

"He's on the phone with the majority leader but he should be done in a moment. Go ahead." C.J. thanked Margaret before opening the door to Leo's office. He had just hung up the phone, looking frustrated.

"We try to work with the leader of the Senate so he can work with the opposition." Leo sounded annoyed and it showed in the tenseness of his face. "What's up?"

"Dani said something to me. She asked if all she was going to be was be a research lackey." Leo didn't commented, a sign that C.J. was suppose to go on. "Sir she came to observe. She did not come for us to take advantage of her, or to do our dirty work. We may not have wanted her here but she doesn't deserve to be treated like this."

"What happened to shunning her for going against the party?" Leo asked, somewhat amused.

"You may think it is funny sit but…"

"No I don't think it is funny. Dani was not hired but sent to observe, you are correct. Yet how can she observe if she is not informed?"

"With all due respect she graduated from Berkeley. I highly doubt she is stupid."

Leo almost smirked. "Protecting one of your own?"

"Sir!" C.J. gasped in exasperation.

"All right, all right. Now what did you want?"

"I want her to be involved in our meetings. She has a great mind and has some ideas we could use."

A raised eyebrow smiled. "You do know that everybody, regardless of who they are, has to research."

"No that's not true. Josh has Donna. I have Carroll, Sam and Toby had Ginger and the speech writing team. Dani has no one."

Leo looked proud for a moment of his press secretary. "Let her get the briefs on our topics. But let's not use her as our go-to-girl or let her write the briefs for us."

"Good."

"And Leo?"

"Yes?"

"Let Sam have at her. I hear she's great at remembering quotes."

"Sure."

C.J. left the room, rolling her eyes as an agent said, "The flamingo is moving." She made her way to Dani's desk.

"Berkeley you've been promoted."

"Berkeley?"

"Secret Service code name."

"To what?"

"A non-paid member of the staff." C.J. watched as Dani's eyes gleamed. C.J. smiled turning to leave.

"Hey C.J."

"Yeah?"

"What's your code name?"

"Flamingo."

"Awful bird."

"Yes. Now go see Sam."

I had a Secret Service code name. I was part of the staff now. But I would have to prove myself, knowing that the hardest critics were not the Secret Service. In fact, if I was going to completely honest with myself, my worst critic was no one other than myself. But that challenge I would tackle another day.

So you ask what ended up happening? Well, I didn't get to brief the President. But I did get to set up the meeting between Zander and the President. If the President hadn't had a meeting with some other officials they could have spent hours talking. Zander Song left President Bartlet with something to think about, two quotes he used in his essay. One was this: "The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within."

Wonder what the last one was? It's one I've told you countless times. "Democracy is not being, it is becoming. It is easily lost, but never finally won." This quote reminded the great President Bartlet, the debate of what democracy is and is not is based on one fundamental truth people need to understand. Democracy is not a noun. It is a verb.

That day I walked away from the West Wing, I felt proud for the first time of my democracy, of my government. I felt like I had accomplished something – we had accomplished something. I realized, if nothing else, why I loved politics in the first place. Well now I should get going. Dad said he was going to meet me somewhere for dinner. I miss you Dani. Stay strong for me. Hey, and always remember that you are writing history. It has to be kind for you.

Love your sister,

Danielle Lancer

Author's Note: Democracy Now! is a daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 700 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the U.S. While they do not have an annual essay contest, I thought it could be plausible that they would.

The first quote is by Mohandas Gandhi, found on

The second quote is by William Haste, also found on

The last part makes a reference to a quote by Sir Winston Churchill, "History will be kind to me because I intend to write it."

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Another one should be coming shortly.