Toon & text by John Auchter
All of our money (as in United States of America legal tender) has the motto, “In God We Trust.” Our coins also have “E pluribus unum” (out of many, one) and “Liberty.” They are there, I believe, as reminders of who we are and would like to be as Americans. It may get a little crowded (especially on the dime), but I humbly submit that we should add one more: “We are a country of action; lies do not become us.”
That is, of course, comes from the great William Goldman and his book and screenplay for “The Princess Bride.” I hope you have read the book and seen the movie. (If Betsy DeVos wants to begin to win me over, she can start by making this a national education requirement.)
Even if you have and don’t remember, there is a scene where the evil Prince Humperdinck and his soldiers capture our heroes Westley and Princess Buttercup. In exchange for agreeing to go with Humperdinck, Buttercup makes him promise to return Westley safely to his ship. He lies to Buttercup, giving his word that it will be done. After Humperdinck and Buttercup ride off, the prince’s henchman, Rugen, sneers down at Westley, “Come, sir, we must get you to your ship.” Westley, knowing full well he intends to torture and kill him, replies, “We are men of action; lies do not become us.”
To my mind, that fits perfect with our other mottoes. It explicitly demonstrates the ideals we Americans aspire to: Honor. Courage. Fortitude. No BS.
Gerrymandering is contrary to those ideals. It lies about who we are. It skews what we represent. It nurtures the self-preservation of those in power. It tips the balance to favor a privileged few over liberty for all. It limits discourse. It protects scoundrels.
We are a country of action; lies do not become us.
John Auchter draws cartoons. Lots and lots of them. You can find them at his incredibly popular website auchtoon.com. You can also find his stuff on Michigan Public Radio’s website under Opinion.
Judith Brooks says
You are so right. Lies do not become us or anyone else. Very nice work.
Tom says
Gerrymandering is a tough subject. My thought is that we should make a law that district boundaries must match existing municipal, county, defacto boundaries, even maybe school systems and such. And, we need some honest committees to set our districts, rather than the state legislature and the city councils.
Woof! How the heck can we accomplish thi?. I volunteer to help. Do you know of anybody who actually is working on this?
John says
As a cartoonist, realize that actually “having the solution” is not part of the job description. But I did do some research, and I have two thoughts: First, what we need to go for is “better” and not “perfect.” We’ll never get to perfect, so let’s agree not to use that as an excuse for giving up. Second, there are lots ways that other states do it — bipartisan commission, executive commission, citizens commission, panel of civil servants. Let’s have a look at them and see what works best for Michigan. The mathematical models and algorithms already exist. The important thing is to move on it and think in terms of “citizens” and not “sides.”
Oldugly says
This is a subject that has bothered me for many years. I have run many scenarios through my head trying to come up with a good solution. Have even thought we should bring in some disinterested parties (out-of-staters? Swiss bankers? ???) do to the borders. It always comes down to the realization that as long as we let our crooked, self serving politicians do it, we are screwed anyway.
We might be better off if we let a group of our sixth graders do it.