Toon & text by John Auchter
I have something of a Wikipedia problem. In idle moments in between tasks, I tend to wander over to the website for a quick nip — the plotline of a half-watched movie here, the defining geographic features of an obscure African country there. I’m in, I’m out, and I’m back to the task at hand. No big deal. I can quit at any time. Really.
Except, not really. Sometimes I get caught up in one of those link rabbit holes. Like when the first article links to a second one, which links to a third, and so on. I’m particularly susceptible to the “On This Day” area, which lists articles about events that happened on that day. On June 20th, there was this one: “1943 – The Detroit race riot breaks out and continues for three more days.”
I was aware of the event but knew little about it. It had some similarities to the 1967 uprising (competition for jobs and housing) but was really unique to itself. The most fascinating thing to me was the timing: Here we were in the throes of World War II, patriotism arguably running at an all-time high, a concerted focus on defeating the enemy, and we still managed to let our greed and prejudice and tribalism get the best of us. So the first takeaway is: “The good ‘ol days are not always the good ‘ol days.”
The second is: “We should be able to learn from history, but we don’t.” There we were in 2016, living an economic expansion after having survived the Great Recession. Sure, it wasn’t what we wanted it to be, but times were relatively good. But again, we now seem to be letting our greed and prejudice and tribalism get the best of us. You all just experienced the same week I did, so no need to relive it here. Let’s just maybe resolve to remember the positives of the past without repeating the mistakes.
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.
We stand ready to make a HUGE LEAP FORWARD in the U.S.A. By replacing SCOTUS justice Kennedy with a strict constitutional constructionist, we will help guarantee a wonderful future for ourselves, our children and our grandchildren. Ruth Buzzie Ginsberg will be replaced next by another such strict constitutional constructionist. We can eliminate much of the liberal bias obstruction we have witnessed in SCOTUS over the last 30 years.
We are learning from our mistakes of the past. We are bringing the Constitution back into our law. Long live the Republic.
“Long live the republic” There it is in a nutshell. Who talks like that? Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, People’s Republic of North Korea and Republic of China come to mind.
I hope the next strict, constitutional construction jurist President Trump puts on the SCOTUS makes you happy. The same goes with Ruth Buzzie Ginsberg”s replacement in the near future.
Smile – These are great times for our Republic.
I am sure you think it is a great time for you, as it means stifling the liberties and equality of people who make you uncomfortable and propelling white men back to the top. I am sorry to disappoint you, I am not at all worried. I knew Kennedy would be retiring this summer. We thought he was going to retire last summer, remember? This is America, fascism will not win.
The only ones that stifle the liberties of minorities are liberals/socialist/communists.
It was the democrats that voted against President Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Act of 1958. It was the Democrats who attacked Martin Luter King Jr. and his marchers on Selma in the 1960’s by turning high-pressure water hoses and attack dogs on them.
Democrats created the Jim Crowe laws of the South and created the KKK.
After the Civil War, the freed blacks voted Republican and elected Blacks to various political offices. Bt 1912 the various military armed forces were slowly desegregating without being forced to. Then in 1912, Woodrow Wilson was elected to be president. By 1920 Wilson had resegregated the Armed Forces.
There were blacks who had made it to the ranks of majors and colonels, by the time Wilson had left office there were no black officers and NCO’s left. They were demoted to basically the status of cabin boys.
Educate yourself JimIII. You keep making the same tired old irrelevant argument.
The old southern racist democrats of decades ago are today’s republicans.
Make America Great Again is simply code for White Men in Charge Again. Uneducated white men feel maginalized because other groups are catching up to them on the social ladder. Instead of interpreting this for the healthy equality it is, they see it as their position at the top being threatened. Obama’s presidency really drove this irrational feeling of irrelevance home for them. I find it really sad that in order to feel that they matter, they have to feel that they are superior to women and minorities.
I have a noticed a common trait in many Trump supporting males. The ones I have interviewed all had an authoritarian figure in their lives, usually their father, who belittled them often and made them feel stupid. They see in Trump two things; 1. A familiarity that is much like the authoritarian of their youth. They are accustomed to this. It seems normal and right. 2. They see themselves in Trump. Like them (and like their authoritarian figure), Trump is angry, insecure and full of self-doubt, and always blaming others who are weaker than he is. For them, Trump becoming president is a strong validation. It’s almost as if they themselves had become president, and can convince themselves that they are better than they were lead to believe when growing up. In short they are still trying to impress their authoritarian figure and prove him wrong.
Obviously this does not apply to all Trump supporters. Some of them are just racist, others are misinformed. I have a couple of very good friends, who are very good people, and they voted Trump. However, these two, almost never read or watch the news. One of them voted Trump because his boss likes Trump. The other voted Trump because he hoped the job promises would materialize. Both of them have expressed disappointment in Trump’s performance since the election and they do not defend him.
Everything you wrote here is BS. You just make crap up to justify your hate.
Hillary lost – Get over it.
If it’s BS, why does it make you so angry?
Hahaha dad. Everything Fred said is true and you know it. You lost when your asshole in chief got elected. You settled for second best because what Fred said is true. Uneducated white mean voted for trump because they didn’t know any better. You fit that bill completely. Only an uneducated white man that doesn’t have a clue voted for that moron. An idiot would only condone the asshole we have trying to tear this country apart.
It must have been a very small group of men you “interviewed”. All fathers should be viewed as an authority figure in their family lives. It does not mean that they are to be democratic/republican/socialist/communist dictators to their family.
Neither Working dad and I are uneducated. I do not know about Working Dad, but I attended college, worked for a few corporations, self-employed for quite a few years, read a lot of books over the years. Read more than one newspaper. Along with other things to expand how things worked in the world.
I do not think that President Trump is angry, insecure and full of self-doubt.
I saw those traits in Obama.
I have listened to Obama giving speeches and President Trump giving speeches.
With Obama, if he did not have a teleprompter in front of him, his speeches had too many ers, ahs and other breaks in his speech pattern.
With President Trump, I will admit I have not listened to every speech, he does not have a bunch of ers, ahs and pauses in his speeches. Does President Trump use a teleprompter?, I will say he may have one in front of him, but I have not seen any signs of one.
Am I happy with everything that President Trump has done? No. Has he done more thing that I happy about than about things that I am not happy with? Yes.
I have visited both conservative sites and liberal sites. With the liberals sites, if they cannot answer a question directly or a conservative gives an answer they do not like, liberals start the name calling process, Liberal call those who do not agree with them racists, homophobes and a bunch of other vile names. IT is the liberals/socialists/communists that shut down free speech.
JimIII. You have shown me again and again that you do not answer questions directly. What I am reading here is an example of projection and gas-lighting. You switched the names by associating Obama with Trump’s traits.
Allow me to rephrase. By authoritarian figure, I mean abusive bully who belittles his kids to feel better about himself. Many of us, both liberals and right wingers, had such fathers. The differences is in who overcame that and who internalized it and believe it to this day.
Those who are educated and learned compassion and understanding as opposed to ignorance and racism, understand that their authoritarian’s put downs were about HIM and not them, although I am sure many of them are still dealing with the emotional scars of it. While those who internalized the put downs never gained that knowledge to compartmentalize it and separate it from their own character. Now they are still trying to prove to themselves that they are worthy.
Now let’s talk about you. You claim you are educated because you went to college. I have my doubts about the truth in that, same as I doubt your military career, but that is besides the point. Let’s assume you are telling the truth. Recall that I said “this does not apply to all Trump supporters, some of them are just racist.” Many racist people are very educated and intelligent. That is what makes them so dangerous.
Fortunately in your case, I believe you are neither educated nor racist. I believe you are just biased and ignorant. Attending college doesn’t necessarily mean educated, especially if you just went to focus on one specific field. Your comments all over this blog show that you lack both compassion and understanding. They also show that you have a tendency to lie and exaggerate.
Obviously I can’t give you a psychology diagnosis over the internet, but I can point out a few things. Your own comment above seems to confirm my point, that you yourself had such an authoritarian bully in your life. You also seem to be a very defensive person. That is a sign that you lack confidence in your positions and that you often feel under attack. This is why instead of having a rational discussion about our differences, you resort to not answering questions and just go off on barely coherent rants in an attempt to deflect and distract us to avoid responding to the topic at hand.
Liberals are openminded people. We are caring and compassionate, even towards you. What we do not tolerate is racism and fascism. We believe in equality to all and we stand up to groups who are attempting to squander that equality. I really wish you would stop lying and trying to change the definition of what we are about. Stop trying to convince yourself that you are right when you know you are wrong, and come and join us. We will welcome you with open arms and you will feel better about yourself.
The authoritarian bullies that I had to deal with were LIBERAL AUTHORITARIAN BULLIES, much like you. Teachers and others in life that tried to influence my and others early years.
You cannot tolerate anyone who disagrees with you. When someone disagrees with you, you attack the person and their talking points.
You follow the precepts of Saul Alinsky and Karl Marx. They pushed the ideas of attacking those who do not agree with you. Demonize them, ridicule their ideas and accuse them of doing the things that you are doing. That is the liberal/socialist/communist way of doing things.
You can try to deny these things, but that is what you are doing.
Are there compassionate liberals in America? Yes. I have not met too many of them.
Are there compassionate conservative/republicans in America? Yes.
Using IRS data on those who claim tax deductions on their 1040’s and other data the IRS and others have said that conservative/republicans give more to charity than liberals do.
Again you are projecting. Everything you accuse me of is what you and Trump do. When you support someone who has been documented lying to the public 6000 times in a 2 year span, it’s a clear sign that honesty is not something you value or practice.
John and Fred you are right on again. Thankful for & blessed by intelligent folks who ‘get it’ and speak up for good. Fascism will not win. We are so much better than what is happening now.
Welcome to America.
Land of the greedy and home of the lily-livered Congress.
Ain’t America Great!?!
What do you know, Native of Michigan has any Congress pegged. Congresspersons are only looking out for themselves, taking “campaign contributions” from various lobbyists and various other groups.
Does not matter if they are Republican, Democrat or independent.