Someone's Kids: The Moral Argument for Intervention
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
C.J. poses a moral dilemma about intervening in violence, sparking debate.
Toby counters with the cost of sending soldiers, emphasizing the human toll.
C.J. argues for moral responsibility, framing soldiers as both protectors and someone's children.
Toby challenges C.J.'s stance, demanding a non-ideological justification.
C.J. admits her ideological stance but reaffirms the moral imperative to act.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Attentive and slightly guarded — sympathetic to the moral case but aware of logistics and leaks.
Josh is seated between them, verbally supportive of C.J.'s point with a measured 'Yes,' while also attending to practical matters (mentioning Donna) — quietly functioning as a political reality-check and team stabilizer.
- • Keep the group cohesive and prevent the argument from fracturing staff unity.
- • Monitor offsite issues (Donna/leaks) while listening to policy debate.
- • Political consequences matter and must be integrated into moral choices.
- • Loyalty to staff requires both emotional support and managerial oversight.
Righteously indignant; morally urgent with an undercurrent of exhaustion.
C.J. sits at the table, orders a drink, and drives the moral argument forcefully — invoking the image of soldiers as 'somebody's kids' and labeling inaction complicity to press the case for intervention.
- • Force colleagues to treat intervention as a moral imperative, not only a political calculation.
- • Frame the language used by the President and staff so humanitarian action cannot be dismissed on procedural grounds.
- • Freedom from tyranny is a principle that demands action, not mere rhetoric.
- • Failing to intervene when atrocities occur makes bystanders morally culpable.
Not present; implied as potentially anxious or involved in the broader leak/office situation.
Donna is offstage but invoked by Josh as someone who might call; her presence functions as a tether to ongoing administrative and personnel concerns outside the moral argument.
- • Her invocation maintains attention to staff logistics and loyalty dynamics.
- • Serve as a reminder that offstage personnel issues intersect with onstage policy arguments.
- • Staff cohesion and personal loyalties matter to operational functioning.
- • Personal issues can intrude into policy discussions.
Melancholic and contemplative as expressed through song.
Jill Sobule performs 'Heroes' on stage; her melancholic lyrics intermittently punctuate the conversation and provide an ironic, reflective counterpoint that underscores the imperfect nature of heroism discussed by the staff.
- • Set an emotional tone that frames the staff's debate about imperfection and sacrifice.
- • Provide lyrical commentary that accentuates irony and moral ambiguity.
- • Art reflects human imperfection and can illuminate moral complexities.
- • Songs can deepen, rather than answer, ethical questions.
Wary and resolute — concerned about consequences and unwilling to be swept by moral fervor without accounting for costs.
Toby listens, then pushes back with pragmatic counter-questions: he reframes the hypothetical to emphasize sending 'other people's kids' and demands concrete, non-ideological reasons before endorsing troop deployments.
- • Prevent an emotionally driven decision that would put American lives at risk without strategic basis.
- • Force clarity and specificity in rhetoric so the President's oath and political constraints are respected.
- • American soldiers' lives require non-ideological justification before deployment.
- • Noble impulses must be tempered by calculation to avoid pointless sacrifice.
Neutral, businesslike; unaffected by the moral heat of the conversation.
Waiter Cynthia takes the drink orders (acknowledging C.J.'s 'Tank and tonic' and Josh's note) and quietly services the table, anchoring the normalcy of a club setting while the conversation intensifies.
- • Fulfill orders and maintain service without interrupting the patrons' discussion.
- • Keep the table comfortable and unnoticed while the staff talks.
- • Patrons' conversations are not the server's concern beyond service.
- • Professional distance maintains effective service.
Not present; represented as weighty and soon-to-act.
President Bartlet is referenced repeatedly as the ultimate decision-maker whose oath and potential orders are the subject of the staff's dispute; he is offstage but central to the moral calculus.
- • Implicitly, to balance constitutional oath with humanitarian concerns.
- • Remain rhetorically defensible and politically sustainable when acting.
- • The President's oath and responsibilities require measured justification for military action.
- • Staff debate should inform but not unduly pressure executive decision-making.
Implied violent and impulsive in the analogy.
The 'guy across the street' is invoked as the aggressor in C.J.'s hypothetical — a rhetorical foil that forces the group to contrast proximate intervention with distant military commitments.
- • Serve as a concrete example to demand immediate action in the moral argument.
- • Highlight disparate reactions to nearby and faraway violence.
- • Some acts of violence call for individual intervention regardless of politics.
- • Proximity influences perceived obligation to act.
Implied distress and danger within the hypothetical scenario.
The pregnant woman is invoked as the immediate victim in C.J.'s analogy — not physically present but used to make the moral dilemma intimate and unavoidable.
- • As a rhetorical device, represent the human face of injustice that demands intervention.
- • Make abstract policy immediate and personal in the minds of the staff.
- • Victims deserve outside help when attacked.
- • Moral obligation to intervene is intuitive in proximate violence.
Invoked through song as emblematic of sadness and creative failure.
Tennessee Williams is name-checked by lyrics onstage, invoked as an emblem of flawed genius and melancholia that shades the debate about the imperfect nature of heroes and the cost of action.
- • Provide cultural texture to the scene's mood.
- • Highlight that courage and heroism often come with personal cost and imperfection.
- • Artistic examples can illuminate moral ambiguity.
- • References to literary figures deepen the moral texture of modern dilemmas.
Implied anxious/at-risk through others' speech.
As invoked entities, 'soldiers and sailors' are humanized by C.J.'s remark and become the tangible subjects of the debate — real people whose lives would be risked by policy decisions.
- • Appear in the debate as living people whose welfare must be considered.
- • Function rhetorically to check idealism with the reality of human cost.
- • Military service entails real human risk that must be justified.
- • Invoking their humanity should constrain political decisions.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Jill Sobule's live performance of 'Heroes' functions as an audible and thematic backdrop: its lyrics about imperfect heroes and lost crowns punctuate the staff's argument, heightening irony and giving the debate an elegiac cadence that frames the moral stakes.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Asia is referenced as an example of distant theaters where the President might or might not go — serving as shorthand for geopolitical reach and the abstraction of faraway crises compared to immediate moral dilemmas.
Qumar is referenced as another distant, volatile nation used to illustrate the scale and complexity of foreign commitments, helping Toby argue for caution and specificity before deploying troops.
Rwanda is cited alongside other countries as an emblem of distant humanitarian crisis; the name carries historical resonance and shapes the moral urgency C.J. evokes while Toby warns about sending troops.
The park with the crownless statue is invoked via song lyrics as an image of diminished glory and fallen heroism; it functions symbolically to contrast public ideals with private imperfection during the staff's ethical exchange.
The street across from Club Iota is the proximate setting of C.J.'s hypothetical assault: it anchors the moral thought experiment in immediate, relatable geography that contrasts with distant theaters of war.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The organization 'Soldiers and Sailors' is invoked rhetorically as the human constituency whose lives would be risked by intervention; the group functions less as an acting body and more as the ethical and political counterweight to idealistic calls for action.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"C.J.'s moral dilemma about intervening in violence is thematically paralleled in Bartlet's decision to deploy military units to Khundu, both grappling with the human cost of action versus inaction."
"C.J.'s moral dilemma about intervening in violence is thematically paralleled in Bartlet's decision to deploy military units to Khundu, both grappling with the human cost of action versus inaction."
Key Dialogue
"Toby: "Guy across the street is beating up anybody, I like to think I go over and try and stop it, but we're not talking about the President going to Asia or the President going to Rwanda or the President going to Qumar. We're talking about the President sending other people's kids to do that.""
"C.J.: "That's always what we're talking about, and in addition to being somebody's kids, they're soldiers and sailors, and if we're about freedom from tyranny, then we're about freedom from tyranny, and if we're not, we should shut up.""
"C.J.: "Cause those are somebody's kids, too.""