“Parks and Recreation” Amy Poehler and Nick Offerman‘s characters Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson are clearly the mom and dad of the fictitious Pawnee Parks and Rec Department, but they also represent bipartisan politics from showrunner Michael Schur’s point of view.
In Schur’s America, represented in one small-town Indiana government department Thursday nights on NBC, Swanson is intended to be the gruff Republican and Knope the naive Democrat, the show creator explained at Tuesday’s PaleyFest panel. The purpose of their functional, respectful professional relationship and personal friendship — despite being at different ends morally and ethically — is one that Schur wishes to see happen between the aisles in Congress.