It's not that there wasn't anything going on in Michigan this week. There was plenty.
And there always is plenty for an editorial cartoonist to pick from. It's just that, when there are active impeachment hearings implicating the President of the United States, it is awfully difficult to concentrate on anything else.
I have a day job that requires me to actually pay attention to it, so I haven't been able to see much of the hearings live. It's been killing me. I feel like I'm derelict in not only my editorial cartooning duty but also in my duty as a US citizen. I mean, I've been listening to and reading reports from a pretty wide variety of news sources, but that's still not the same as first-hand and real-time.
Sure, a slight advantage of missing the live experience is not suffering through all the posturing. But the antics of Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan notwithstanding, it's still incredibly important to experience. The leader of the Executive Branch is being called to defend his extraordinary behavior. And it's not being done with pitch forks or tanks, but with rules and constitutional processes. This is remarkable! Human history shows us that this uniquely American approach is definitely the exception rather than the rule.
You may or may not be happy about this. Your politics may or may not align with the eventual outcomes. But we all should at the very least keep ourselves informed as best we can.
John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
