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Life seemed so bleak in November of 1992. Bill Clinton had just been elected president, and I was not happy. I began searching for some thread of commonality, some bit of yarn that I could weave between myself and the Clinton administration. I had given up the search as hopeless until I stumbled upon common ground in an unusual place, "The Andy Griffith Show."

I read that James Carville, Clinton's campaign strategist and confidante, watched Andy Griffith reruns every night. So did I. I collected Andy Griffith episodes the way other people collected stamps or butterflies. In 1992, there were still a few episodes I had not seen. Now I not only have seen them all several times, I own dvds of all eight seasons.

I can understand why a conservative like me would watch "The Andy Griffith Show." Even though Andy was a single parent long before Murphy Brown, the show, which ran from 1960-1968 is still the epitome of that cliche-family values.

At first I couldn't understand why one of President Clinton's top aides would watch Andy Griffith reruns since the show did not look very much like the America of the 1990s. In the early 1960s, North Carolina, the setting for the show, had a population that was 25 percent black, as well as the largest Indian reservation east of the Mississippi. However, Blacks rarely appear in the show, and when they did they were usually extras, and a Native American only appears once. And even though there are several episodes that touch on women's rights, women are primarily relegated to a secondary position.

Carville said he watched the show because he thought its episodes were consistently intelligent and well-written. I agree with that assessment. I also watch it because of the successful blend of humor and seriousness. A steady diet of pure comedy can be sickening. For that reason alone, I could never watch "The Beverly Hillbillies," which played during the many of the same years as "The Andy Griffith Show" and often received higher ratings.

But it is not just the skillfully written scripts or the blend of humor and seriousness that can appeal both to a conservative and a liberal. People watch Andy Griffith for the same reason they go to Stockbridge, Massachusetts and stare at paintings in the Norman Rockwell Museum. "The Andy Griffith Show" creates a world that both liberals and conservatives look back on with nostalgia.

I don't mean a world where Blacks and Indians are invisible. I mean a world where you don't have to lock your doors at night because the major criminal activity is jaywalking. A world where houses are built with porches on the front, not decks on the back, and people sit out on them and talk to each other. A world where both men and women refuse to sacrifice family for careers.

In the world of Andy Griffith, there are no desperately poor. There are moderately wealthy people but no filthy rich. There may be moonshine but no drugs. And though there may be a little envy from time to time, there is no hate.

In reality though, Mayberry is not so much the America we have lost, but the one we are all looking for. The reason both a liberal and a conservative can both enjoy Andy Griffith is that, beneath all the political rhetoric, we have similar visions of America. It is not the goal so much, but the path to the goal that most conservatives and liberals disagree on.

I was very worried when Bill Clinton was elected president. I foresaw an America in shambles. I felt somewhat better when I found out that his top aide was doing the same thing every night that I was-watching Andy Griffith reruns. I felt that if a liberal like Carville could believe in a place called Mayberry, North Carolina then I would try to believe in a place called Hope, Arkansas.

Learn more about this author, Dan Weaver.
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