Auchtoon!

This is the last cartoon of the year, and typically I try to ease off a bit, maybe go with something lighter and more universally appealing. What I came up with, however, is pretty inside politics. Ah, well… it’s a political cartoon, right?

So you kinda have to know that Michigan Speaker of the House Joe Tate, and U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson, have both had less than enjoyable experiences this past year trying to wrangle their very slim majorities into passing legislation. This has culminated in recent days with members of their own party acting out — refusing to work, making threats, and generally s-talking them (behind their backs and openly).

It’s not like I have a lot of sympathy for Tate and Johnson — they’re grownups, they had to know what they signed up for. In fact, I’m mostly heartened by the situation. It’s a good thing for Michigan and a good thing for America when a leader cannot count on their party members to always fall in line and do exactly what they say. Sure, it can be slow and frustrating. But it’s a far sight better than totalitarianism.

Happy Holidays to you and our fragile young republic!

I live outside of the Detroit Metro area, so Mike Duggan announcing his candidacy for Michigan governor probably hit me differently than for those of you who live there. I mean, I’m aware that Duggan is the longtime mayor of Detroit and that he has been very successful.

But the thing is, I don’t think about Detroit very much. And I don’t believe that most Michiganders out here in the hinterlands do either. (The Detroit Lions, sure. But not so much Detroit itself.)

This is different than it used to be. Back in the day, Detroit was pretty much synonymous with Michigan. The daily newspaper that everybody read and the nightly news that everybody watched kept everybody up to date on the goings on in Detroit — whether it was automaking news or political shenanigans or terrible crimes, we all basically were in the loop.

Now, partially because of Detroit’s enormous population loss over the past decades, it is no longer the center of the Michigan universe. But also, Detroit simply isn’t as notorious as it once was. Ironically, much due to Duggan himself, all the good news doesn’t really make its way to where I live. Ask a West Michigander about the renovated Michigan Central Station or the nearly completed Gordie Howe Bridge, and you’re likely to get a blank stare.

My point: Being mayor of Detroit doesn’t quite have the political cache that it once did.

Now if Duggan had only been the one who got Detroit into bankruptcy instead of the getting them out of it, he might stand a better chance. Because, apparently, successfully bankrupting things is a great way to get yourself elected these days.

I was part of an interview this week with friend and fellow editorial cartoonist Angelo Lopez. He lives in the Bay Area in California, and he was curious about the post-election vibe in the Midwest.

Angelo was particularly interested in the apparent trend of the working-class voters shifting from the Democrat to Republican parties. I grew up in Flint, so I know well that back in the day most people, but especially blue collar folks, voted Democrat. Lots and lots of reasons why that was so and lots and lots of reasons why it isn’t so much anymore.

But the best explanation I can think of for shifting voter patterns is that it’s a very different world today and political parties evolve. Back when I was born, if you were a white social conservative living in the South, you’d vote Democrat. And if you were a free-trade, no-tariff capitalist, you’d vote Republican. New opinions are constantly developing to meet a changing world and political parties evolve to meet them.

It made me a bit nostalgic, though. Remember the good ol’ days when holiday dinners were ruined over labor vs. management fights instead of party politics?