[Intro] It’s 1:17 a.m. My browser history says “executive orders” “how fast can things fall apart” and “cast of The West Wing, then and now” The algorithm thinks I’m nostalgic I’m actually clinging to competence like it’s the last life raft on C-SPAN [Verse 1] I cue up Season 2 the one where the crises still fit in forty-two minutes plus commercials and smart people talk fast in well-lit corridors while democracy wears sensible shoes In the glow of my laptop Bartlet is arguing the finer points of the census while my phone is screaming about judges and donors and “think tanks” that forgot the thinking part The Heritage types are out here with binders of pre-written reality policy Mad Libs Just add “whereas” and “God bless America” staple it to a flag and call it a platform Meanwhile, on my screen Toby’s losing his patience with a lazy headline I pause it wonder what he’d do with “Both Sides Debate Whether Gravity Exists” above the fold [Chorus] (still awake, I swear I’m staying) I won’t trade truth for easy sleep I’ll keep my eyes wide in the dark We hold this ground, we guard this spark (still awake, I swear I’m staying) I won’t drift out, I won’t look down My quiet vow: I won’t stand down [Verse 2] I scroll, then scroll again doom-refresh like it’s a devotion While on the show they’re arguing commas in a speech because words can move a nation and here they delete whole paragraphs of the social contract with a Friday afternoon memo A senator on TV calls cruelty “just tough love” and I hear C.J. in my head practice-briefing the press: “Today the administration announced it has officially rebranded malice as efficiency” In my feed someone posts a flowchart from some foundation mapping the step-by-step journey from “limited government” to limited rights to limited air to limited dissent On screen Josh is pacing out a walk-and-talk three steps ahead of disaster In life we’re three steps behind reading leaked drafts like horoscopes trying to guess what they’ll take next [Chorus] (still awake, I swear I’m staying) I won’t trade truth for easy sleep I’ll keep my eyes wide in the dark We hold this ground, we guard this spark (still awake, I swear I’m staying) I won’t drift out, I won’t look down My quiet vow: I won’t stand down [Bridge] Some nights I want to move into that fake West Wing pitch a sleeping bag outside Leo’s office let the hum of fictional competence rock me to sleep But this is the part of the episode where somebody says “Decisions are made by the people who show up” and I realize I’m not a character I’m the audience checking Twitter during the commercial break So I make a deal with the rerun gods: You keep the banter I’ll keep the homework You give me one more scene where decency wins on a technicality and I’ll show up phone charged voice ready for the untelevised sequel [Chorus] (still awake, I swear I’m staying) I won’t trade truth for easy sleep I’ll keep my eyes wide in the dark We hold this ground, we guard this spark (still awake, I swear I’m staying) I won’t drift out, I won’t look down My quiet vow: I won’t stand down [Outro] The credits roll over swelling strings in my headphones while outside the real script is still being drafted line by line in rooms we haven’t walked through yet I close the laptop but not my eyes and in the hush between headlines I practice my one line over and over into the kitchen light (still awake,
