Comedian Jim Gaffigan has a bit where he says, "I'm a vegetarian now. Well, not a strict vegetarian. I do eat beef and pork. And chicken."
I think that sums us up nicely, don't you? Us Americans. Us Michiganders. We sometimes say one thing, and then can completely contradict ourselves in the next breath. Well, not everybody. But enough of us.
I was thinking about this while I was watching (suffering) the presidential debate earlier this week. What has brought us to this lowly point? Well, yes, absolutely, politicians in general deserve their fair share of blame for the current state of affairs. And the moneyed interests that buy and sell them. And the shortcomings, if not flaws, of our particular system of government.
But ultimately, enough voters in enough states elected Donald Trump in 2016. So there he was, and here we are. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Sure, we all can be hypocrites at times. We all have those tendencies to abandon certain principles in order to feed our id. But the thing about being an adult (and a good citizen) is that you try to control those tendencies instead of letting those tendencies control you. We'll get to see how that plays out in this election.
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.
