June 23, 2005
Political Caricatures
Political cartooning is a long-standing tradition in our nation. Lampooning our politicians and political hopefuls in print is a way to bring issues to light in a quick manner.
But what happens when political debate treats those politicians not as humans, but as caricatures?
You see, we have a serious problem here. The left in this country believes that George W. Bush is evil. They believe that he is like Hitler. They believe that comparisons to Darth Vader are fully valid. They believe that George W. Bush hates freedom, hates minorities, hates the poor, and hates individual rights. They believe that his true goal is to set up an Evangelical Christian theocracy. They believe, truly believe, that George W. Bush would go to war, sending American soldiers into harms way, to enrich oil tycoons in Texas. They truly believe that George W. Bush cares more about his own glory and building an “empire” than protecting and serving the citizens of this country.
Now, I ask, how can you argue with that? How can you argue policies with opponents who think your side is evil and full of hate? You can’t. You cannot have meaningful debate when your opposition believes you are evil, nasty, and hateful. If you believe a policy will help a situation, and your opponent believes it will hurt a situation, you can debate. If your opponent thinks you secretly want to hurt that situation, however, there is no debate.
This, of course, is not only the domain of the left. There are people on the right who think our leftist friends are actively anti-American. They think the left is trying to tear down and destroy all they hold sacred in our nation. You look at the way the hard Right treats Hillary, and you have to believe that they’re not just opposed to her policies, they hate her and think she’s evil. If we continue this way, and Hillary gets the nomination in ‘08, what voice will those of us who oppose her based on policy have when we’re being shouted over by the people who hate her?
The rhetoric has caused meaningful debate and meaningful change to become impossible. We need to fight against this. We need to fight against the Ed Kleins, Jerry Falwells, and Pat Robertsons of this country just as hard as we fight against the Dick Durbins, Charlie Rangels, and Howard Deans. It is time for us to start talking and stop yelling. It is time for us to stop treating our opposition like a mortal enemy. It is time, quite frankly, to start acting like grown-ups.
I do my best to treat opposition with respect. For example, our good lefty Dadahead is about as diametrically opposed to me politically as you can get. Do I think Dada is a bad person? Nope. Do I think he’s trying to destroy this country? Not at all. I do think he’s wrong. I do think his policies will do immense damage to this country. But I think he is acting in good faith. I think he believes that he is right and that his policies will do good. I debate Dada, in the hopes that I can show him where I believe he is wrong. Or, more accurately, that people on the fence that read our debates can see why I am right and he is wrong, because Dada and I probably won’t change each other’s minds. But if I thought Dada was a bad, evil person, or he thought such of me, we wouldn’t even be able to talk. Dada and his readers can debate with me, Eric, Robert, et. al., because we engage in civil debate about ideas, not personal invective.
If we want to see change, we need to end the “politics of personal destruction”. We need to start engaging in debate, not rhetoric. Unless that happens, we’re just going to have more of the same, a government that bickers over who holds the reins of power instead of debating the effects of proposed policies, and a populace that distrusts our politicians and tunes out the nasty rhetoric. Let’s remember, our politicians, whether it’s Bush, either Clinton, or any of the others, are human beings. They’re not cardboard cutouts of political cartoons. Wrong and evil are two different things. Showing why your opponent is wrong may be more difficult than calling them evil, but it will improve our nation to do so.
(more fun cartoons below the fold)
From freesqueeze.com:
Cartoon Central linked with Political Caricatures
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I fear that “us v. them†in political discourse is getting worse, not better. I think part of the problem is the tendency to ignore the negative aspects of those on “my teamâ€, while exacerbating the flaws of “the other sideâ€. In other words, politics has devolved into a high-stakes game where points and votes are more valuable than an objective assessment of reality.
Political Caricatures
Ever since there was a democracy, there were political cartoons….