Auchtoon!

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
November 25, 2012

In 2004, 59% of Michigan voters passed an amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage. Similar to the ballot proposals this year, I thought amending the constitution for this was a bad idea, and I drew some cartoons to that point. Some readers contacted me to tell me I was wrong. Most cited natural law and procreation and the history of marriage (at least as far as their recent memory) and an implied discomfort with two men kissing. But the closer argument for all was this: “This is what the people want. The majority rule. That’s how democracies work, you know. Too bad for you.”

Eight years later, a Michigan State University study shows that 56% of Michigan voters now support gay marriage. This seems entirely plausible considering Maine, Maryland, and Washington state all passed popular vote measures to legalize gay marriage, and Minnesota turned down a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

Soooo… do the people still decide?

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
November 18, 2012

When you’re good — when you’re really, really good — you get away with stuff. You can do things, and people say, “Oh, well, that’s so-and-so. He’s really good. Exceptional. Has a deeper understanding of things. Knows more than the rest of us. Just better, I guess.” And they can push that envelope just as far as they want.

So in 1979, the really, really good cartoonist Pat Oliphant drew the following cartoon, which was printed in family newspapers:

That’s Jimmy Carter speaking as the ant. And that’s Ted Kennedy as the grasshopper. As a teenage boy, I was obviously impressed with both the cussing and the scantily clad female. But as a budding cartoonist teenage boy, I was more impressed with how — by using the cussing and scantily clad female in context and with wit — Oliphant took a decent analogy to an Aesop Fable and made it absolutely hilarious. (The born-again President Carter would never say that! But that’s just how much Kennedy frustrated him!)

I remembered this cartoon as I was drawing my cartoon. I wanted the sign in panel 3 to read, “Fix the goddam roads!” I’m no fan of gratuitous cursing (as if any curse word truly has any shock value any more). And I understand and endorse the 4th commandment. But in a cartoon, funny is funny, and funny wins. Still, I knew that “goddam” wouldn’t get printed so I made my case for a simple “damn.” (It’ s unlikely anybody would write swearing gibberish instead of an actual curse on a placard.) But understandably (alas), my editor opted for the gibberish. I still aspire to someday be Pat Oliphant….

November 15, 16, and 17 at 7:00PM, Grandville High School Theater

http://gpsblogs.org/ghstheater/

(Please note the two Auchters in the cast.)

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
November 11, 2012

Some consider it bad form to draw yourself into your own editorial cartoons. But for this idea I needed a character to represent the sometimes maddening inconsistencies of the American public and — Hey! That’s me!

Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News
November 4, 2012

One of the funniest things I saw this election season was a tweet from the actor/writer Albert Brooks in answering the “who would you rather have a beer with?” question:

Well, I’d rather have a beer with Mitt Romney because he doesn’t drink and I could have both of them.

Brilliant. That would be my answer (if I had thought of it first). It’d be a better way of saying, “Ya know, I’m not really crazy about Romney.” Why? Well, putting his actual platform aside (which is what a lot of us Americans do), I don’t like him for the very same reason I never much liked Bill Clinton back in the 90’s — he seems a professional office seeker willing to do or say anything to achieve the next elected level. (To be honest, their well-coiffed full heads of hair may also adversely affect my bald man sensibilities.)

Even so, I really wasn’t looking to unload on him the Sunday before election. I had a couple of other ideas that were presidential-candidate-neutral. (I address Michigan-centric issues, so most ideas don’t involve presidential candidates.) Then last week, Governor Romney made his bizarre automobile-industry statements while campaigning in Ohio. And even after it was clear to all that what he said was either totally false or at the very least extremely misleading, his campaign just seemed to double-down on them. I couldn’t let that go.

That said, please go out and vote tomorrow! Read as much as you can read; know as much as you can know. And if you can help it, keep your feelings about personalities out of it. I won’t presume to tell you how you should vote.

…unless you live in Michigan, then vote NO on Proposal 6. Seriously.