‘Toon and text by John Auchter
So the common question these days is: “How did it come to this — how did we end up with these presidential candidates?” And the simplest answer to that is: “It’s our fault.” Would a curious, engaged, and active electorate have generated the current tickets? Probably not. I think there is a general sense that we could have done better.
But maybe we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too much. This self-governance — it’s a hopelessly human activity with all its brokenness and potential for failure. We are just bound to screw up sometimes, I guess. What’s the lyric from that Gin Blossom’s song, “If you don’t expect too much from me, you might not be let down”? Yep, that’s the one.
The thing is, we are the United States of America. We do need to expect more. Our country was founded on the very concept of expecting more out of its citizens. And for years we have been a beacon of that expectation to the world — certainly not perfect, but at least positive, hopeful.
Alas, we may have turned a corner. Recently I had the pleasure of hearing Kenyan editorial cartoonist Godfrey Mwampembwa speak at a conference. Mr. Mwampembwa goes by the pen name Gado, and he certainly knows a thing or two about having to deal with “big men” political leaders. As part of a panel discussion, he had this insight while discussing some of his cartoons featuring Donald Trump:
“The African people are watching the American election with amusement. They just cannot believe what is happening. Africans have always been lectured that ‘you have these dictators.’ And now we are laughing because you are going to get one of your own. And we can’t wait because we want to hear what you will say to us.”
Yeah, we can definitely do better.
John Auchter draws cartoons. Lots and lots of them. You can find them at his incredibly popular website auchtoon.com.
Mr. Trump is exactly what we need in this day and age to ignite a nuclear holocaust. This type of dictator we do not need at this time. Sometimes change is bad, and sometimes change can be evil so a vote for tromp could be devastating.
How can any sensible American citizen think something like this?
I had high hopes for Bernie Sanders. It seems when we have someone entering the race offering big change, we don’t believe it’s possible. We want to play it safe, regardless of the knowledge that there will be no change voting for the same bunch that’s running the show now? I will vote for Hillary. She will do the best she can. I shudder to think of our future if Trump should win…. This is a no win situation, though. If you thought Republicans blocked Obama– wait until Hillary gets in there. There won’t be any change for the good until we get the money backing Washington out of our government.
I’d considered the thought that people from other parts of the world have to be amused or abhorred by the fact so many support Trump. At the same time certain cultures and many individuals totally understand as there is no way they would elect a woman leader.
On to the Tigers, their so-so season is thankfully over, they weren’t bad but underachieved.
I think you hit the nail on the head though, many of us will be thankful this election is over. I’m both amazed and appalled when I think about people abroad judging us by our selection for President. We could have the lowest voter turnout in history, few people like either candidate.