Politics in The Simpsons

[2] The large cast of developed characters makes The Simpsons unique among television shows in its ability to frame complex issues within a community setting.

Marge Simpson is portrayed as an overworked housewife associated with conservative ideas of nuclear family and the role of women, though she is also recognized as a feminist within the show.

Homer briefly holds political office as Springfield Sanitation Commissioner, during which time he is shown to be a dishonest populist politician who makes promises he cannot fulfill.

The season 2 episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" features Mr. Burns running for governor against a popular incumbent with the intention of relaxing safety regulations for his business.

The season 9 episode "Trash of the Titans" follows Homer Simpson as he runs for the office of sanitation commissioner, portraying him as an everyman who is unqualified for the role.

[2] The season 8 episode "Treehouse of Horror VII" parodied the 1996 presidential election by presenting both candidates as evil alien imposters, insisting that voters must still choose one of them because of a two-party system.

Senator Ted Cruz incorporated references to the show as part of his political identity despite strong backlash from writers and cast members.

[19][20] Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was the subject of controversy after using an image of Lisa Simpson on Twitter in a way that critics said was contrary to the character's beliefs.

In the season 10 episode "Make Room for Lisa", Homer demonstrates total ignorance of the Bill of Rights, and he loses his Eighth Amendment protections from cruel and unusual punishment after mistakenly wiping the words off of the document.

The season 15 episode "Bart-Mangled Banner" features the Simpsons fighting for their First Amendment right to freedom of speech after Bart accidentally moons the flag of the United States.

In the season 19 episode "E Pluribus Wiggum", Lisa objects to the presidential nomination of an eight-year-old, but Bart explains that the Constitution no longer applies due to the Patriot Act.

[29] The season 14 episode "Mr. Spritz Goes to Washington" follows Krusty the Clown as a Congressional candidate running to solve a negative externality caused by business behavior.

The season 6 episode "The PTA Disbands" follows a teacher's strike, presenting the situation as harmful to students when the school is forced to hire unqualified substitutes.

[36] Her environmentalism is also satirized in one episode in which she and Marge travel to help clean an oil spill in Alaska but flee after discovering that the glamorous jobs are taken by celebrities and finding that the work is unpleasant.

[44] The Simpsons features characters engaging in non-recommended health behaviors related to drugs, such as smoking cigarettes and excessive alcohol consumption.

Alcohol consumption in the show is associated with Moe's Tavern, a common setting in which several working class male characters develop an identity.

The town demands the change after Bart Simpson partakes in underage drinking, but it is portrayed as a failure that makes alcohol more widely available through the black market.

[46] The heaviest drinkers among the characters, Homer Simpson and Barney Gumble, are typically portrayed as worse off due to their excessive alcohol consumption.

The drug is portrayed negatively, culminating in Bart stealing a tank as part of a paranoid delusion, though the episode recognized Ritalin as a legitimate alternative.

The former features Homer's time living with gay roommates, while the latter centered on the right for homosexuals to get married and included Marge's sister Patty coming out as a lesbian.

[58] The character Waylon Smithers was presumed to be gay for much of the show's run and came out in the season 27 episode "The Burns Cage", in which he briefly dates Julio.

The police department of Springfield is shown to be deeply incompetent and corrupt, with Mayor Quimby at one point handing Chief Wiggum a kickback during a televised press conference.

In the season 5 episode "Homer the Vigilante", a citizen's patrol is organized, but it worsens the situation, suggesting that the current police system is superior to the alternative.

In the season 5 episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", Bart is forced to consider the moral dilemma of providing testimony, and the judge decides to illegally reopen the trial.

The season 6 episode "Bart vs. Australia" caused controversy in 1995, featuring the country as a "backward, boorish, alcohol-obsessed nation with criminal tendencies" and including a reference to the death of Azaria Chamberlain.

[69][70] Lorenzo Pepe, former Justicialist Party congressman and president of the Perón Institute, said that "this type of program causes great harm, because the disappearances are still an open wound here".

[71] In 2002, the Rio de Janeiro tourist board found the season 13 episode "Blame It on Lisa" so offensive to many Brazilian people that they threatened to sue the producers.

Producer James L. Brooks apologized to "the lovely city of Rio de Janeiro", adding that "if this does not settle the issue, Homer Simpson offers to fight with the Brazilian president on Celebrity Boxing".

Alessandro de Almeida of the Federal University of Uberlândia links the depiction of Brazil in the episode with the "social chaos" of Cardoso's second term as president.

He concluded his article by saying that the episode could generate a debate about the Cardoso administration that would benefit the Brazilian society, had it not been banned from broadcast television airing by Rede Globo.