Painterly black tire partly buried where rough soil meets broken grey pavement.

Original artwork, not a still

Leslie Knope

This is where the rubber of government meets the road of actual human beings.

— Parks and Recreation • 2009

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

The speaker adapts a familiar road metaphor to describe government encountering actual people. The image shifts attention from institutions in the abstract to their human effects. Its slightly awkward pairing of rubber and human beings gives an earnest point about public service a comic texture.

Context reviewed

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