One thing for sure, at least, is that he has a passion for it. he enjoys drawing them, and he enjoys viewing them. He can discuss them with some understanding and appreciation of them. And on some level, I guess that has spread to me, although I certainly can make no claims myself to being a cartoonist. I don't think that I have ever seriously tried to do a cartoon like that in my life (at least not yet). But yes, I do enjoy cartoons every now and then (who doesn't). And sometimes, certain cartoons really stand out.
For the first time, I have added a cartoon to one of my blogs. It is not one of my father's, however. I do not even know if I would have access to the technology to actually publish one of his on this website, although maybe that could be an idea for the future, assuming he would allow it. But I keep him, and his interest in cartooning, in mind now.
This is a political cartoon by Joel Pett, which resonated with me, because there is more than a small grain of truth to it. Corporations are more powerful than ever before, and increasingly, governments are hard pressed to rein them in, even when it is in the best interests of the people that governments represent. Yet, here in America, there is more skepticism towards government than ever before, yet some of the harshest critics of government seem to give corporations a free pass.
Skepticism can be a good thing, and it is necessary. But going overboard with skepticism of government, to the point that there seems to be a feeling that government can do absolutely nothing right, has amounted to empowering corporations, which are not democratic and do not even pretend to operate with the best interest of the people of the community (or nation) to which they belong in mind.
When Ronald Reagan first took the oath of office to be President, he got a huge ovation for saying the following:
"Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."
I understand skepticism towards the government. Really, I can. But I think if we have learned anything over these last few decades -specifically since Reagan took office - is that a government that is not independent of corporate culture is a government that is too weak to rein in the excesses of that same corporate culture when it grows out of control, as it inevitably does.
To put it in plain English, corporations are not the solutions to our problems, they have become America's biggest problems. The euphemism most regularly employed in favor of corporations tends to be that we need them for a "healthy economy".
Yet, while some of the largest and wealthiest corporations rake in record profits quarter after quarter, and while the stock market numbers have fully recovered from the numbers when it plummeted in 2008, the American people have seen virtually none of this alleged economic growth. This is not so much a democracy anymore, as it is a corporatocracy. Or perhaps, a more apt way of putting it is that we live under corporate supremacy. Everything favors corporate culture, and it has proven toxic to the standard of life that we in America specifically, and much of the rest of the world in general, once enjoyed.
Corporations, more than the government, are responsible for the problems that not only have existed, but exploded out of control, since the days of Reagan and Thatcher, when a new brand of neo-conservatism (in fairness, I have heard some who call this false conservatism) became so popular that it spread like wildfire. Critics at the time warned that the full effects of the excesses of those polices, and that whole mindset in general, would not be felt immediately, but would take years and years, even decades, to fully be seen.
Well, we are feeling them now, and they are undeniably bad.
When Reagan was running for President against President Jimmy Carter in 1980, he used one line relentlessly to hammer away at Carter, asking the American people if they "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" It was highly effective, and essentially, was responsible for him not only winning the election, but doing so in a landslide. Indeed, this began the love affair that the American people had, and still have, with Ronald Reagan.
But what Reagan ushered in was the beginning of exactly what we now see as persistent, even relentless, problems facing the nation today. Deregulation, which allowed corporations all sorts of empowerment to do whatever the hell they wish, without any sort of oversight or accountability. Predictably, what happened was a fixation on short term profits, and that translated to an indifference in the corporate culture to the well-being of citizens in host countries. Deregulation has led directly to the deterioration of what had been a very high standard of living that Americans once enjoyed. It has led to corporate scandals at unprecedented levels, most notably the banking scandals, and the economic crisis that followed, in 2008. A huge bailout at the expense of taxpayers ensued, because, we were told, these banks were "too big too fail".
Apparently, they were also too big to control, as they immediately set about the same practices that had gotten them in trouble in the first place, with headlines showing that many of the same practices were still in effect, including huge, scandalous bonuses paid to CEO's and high level board members of these banks. Why would they need to change? They got away with all of those irresponsible decisions, by way of the American taxpayer. We are still footing the bill, are we not? Oh, and by the way, all that money the government owes? Those enormous sums are owed to banks like these.
The corporate vulture culture that we live in is fixated on short term profits. That is all that they look towards, and all that they care about. They do not have to worry about a long-term future beyond that, because nobody forces them to take that kind of responsibility. Prominent politicians, almost always in the pay of some corporations or another (usually known as "special interests"), make sure that they take care of the hands that fed them, and worry only about advancing their own careers. They have become a reflection of corporate culture, grabbing as much as they can while they can, and worrying about, and acting in the best interests of, their immediate future, even if this comes at the expense of what is best for the country in the long term. They do not see a future beyond the next election cycle. This happens because we allow it to happen, collectively.
The sad truth is that government has become the puppet for corporate interests pulling the strings from above. and always in their best interests, at the expense of the American people. This is the new and improved, "scaled down" government that neocons have been raving about all of this time?
So, now that we can see what the "government is the root of all evil" mentality has brought us, we can truly ask ourselves, with a fuller understanding of the long term ramifications, if we are better off now than we were before Reagan and the neocons ushered in the "Reagan revolution" and all of the subsequent "revolutions" since.
In fact, in very real terms, Americans are worse off then they were before, and this can be directly linked to the policies that came from Reagan, who headed that big, evil government, and allowed a far worse monster to be set loose. Corporations, unlike governments, are not elected by the people, and thus, are not held accountable to them. They do not have to serve in the best interests of the people and, generally, don't bother trying.
That is what is wrong with American politics today in a nutshell, and it's not likely to get better anytime soon. I think the cartoon below sums up why.
A lot of people, simply put, seem to direct their justifiable anger in the wrong direction, and do things and believe things that go directly against their best interests.
This seems to me more than a little hypocritical and, frankly, asinine.
This cartoon addresses that.
Enjoy!
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