Andreas at Pussy Goes Grrr has written a wonderfully detailed analysis of “Marge vs. the Monorail”.  (Yes, I’m going to get around to the “Treehouse of Horror V” one someday.)  Short version: he likes it.  Long version: read it for yourself.  I’d like to highlight two things, first:

Lanley brings razzle-dazzle to policymaking. Later, when Marge complains that the potholes will go unfixed, Homer remarks, “Well, you should’ve written a song like that guy.” Homer, an everyman, has the memory of a goldfish; he can’t even recall Lanley’s name, but he definitely remembers that he had a song.

That is a very underrated Homer line.  He has no idea what he’s so enthusiastic about, who made him so, or why he thinks it’s a good idea.  He just knows there was a song and, dog gone it, that’s good enough for him.  I love that line.

Second, there’s this (emphasis mine):

This comes complete with riffs on celebrity culture, more incompetence on the part of political leaders, and several more forays into absurdism – whether with Homer’s Chuck Jones-style viewing of Bart as an anchor, or the continued but superfluous presence of Leonard Nimoy.

This episode is as good as it gets when it comes to Wiggum and Quimby.  While the people they’re supposed to be serving scream in terror, they bicker in the control tower and then get into a lust filled – yet childish – argument over the sexual perks of their respective offices.  But this episode goes beyond just political leaders to indict pretty much anyone in a position of authority.  Judge Snyder sells the statue of justice for cash.  Brockman laps up the monorail publicity so unquestioningly that he runs a laudatory report on the new monorail conductor even though the accompanying photo shows the subject with a mouth full of cigarettes.  Hoover is won over through the cheesiest of flirtations.  Hibbert’s profitable and self-serving Siamese twin diagnosis is proved wrong right in front of him. 

“Marge vs. the Monorail” is The Simpsons and its anti-authority worldview at its best.  All of the systems and organizations that are supposed to protect you are cast as hollow shells, run by self-interested nitwits who will abandon you as soon as the right shiny object comes along.  Read the whole thing, it’s great.