- After winning a political essay contest, Lisa is invited to Washington, D.C., but she soon becomes upset after discovering how policy-making really works.
- Lisa wins the local competition of an essay contest, earning the family a trip to Washington, D.C. for the finals. Lisa sees Bob Arnold (her own representative) taking a bribe. Disgusted, she changes her previous uplifting essay into a cynical one denouncing corruption in government in general and Bob Arnold in particular.
- Homer becomes enamored with the magazine 'Reading Digest.' When he tells Lisa about an American essay contest, she chooses to enter it and write about the Springfield Forest. Her work makes one of the judges suspicious, thinking that Homer may have helped Lisa. After realizing that Homer lacks the mental capacity to have helped Lisa 'cheat,' Lisa wins the contest in Springfield, and the family visits Washington D.C. for the finals.
While wandering around by herself, Lisa overhears a Senator accepting a bribe from a logging company to level Springfield's Forest area. Shaken over her belief in the government, Lisa rewrites her essay, including information about the bribe she saw and heard. A Congressman's aid hears Lisa's speech and within a matter of a couple hours, the shady Senator is caught, expunged from office, and the plans to deforest the preserve are derailed.
However, even though Lisa managed to save the forest, her essay loses.
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