Auchtoon!

My superpower is overthinking. I can overthink anything. Big, small, no matter. I can needlessly complicate anything.

A classic example is when my now wife and I were taking our pre-marriage course, and we were given a questionnaire as an exercise to see how well we were aligned as a couple. It was 100 questions. She finished in less than 10 minutes; it took me nearly an hour.

In the end, there were only six or seven questions in which we had different answers. But after discussing those, it turned out that we did actually have the same answer — I just had overthought those particular questions to the point of misinterpreting them.

For instance, one such question was something like, “Is having a child part of your decision to seek marriage?” I interpreted that to mean, “Have you talked about having children together at some point?” Sure! But what it really meant was, “Is she pregnant?” (She wasn’t, which was nice because it saved the host couple a lot of follow-ups.)

Anyway, this is why I can feel a bit defensive when somebody accuses me of drawing a cartoon that is reactionary — of not having thoroughly taken into account other thoughts and angles. To this I can confidently reply, “Ha!” I guarantee you that I have absolutely overthought it. Granted, it may not always lead to the best result, but it’s never from lack of effort.

So, given all that, I am particularly proud of the simple, clear message behind this week’s cartoon: If you’re implementing policies that consistently tank the market, then maybe don’t implement those policies. No need to overthink it.

The oft-cited Pogo cartoon by Walt Kelly (“We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us“) is a gift that keeps on giving. That particular cartoon was about pollution, but it really applies to almost any awful result from regrettable human behavior.

Currently, we have lots to choose from, but I decided to go with blind ideology. Why can’t government officials let go of their partisan politics and simply pass useful legislation that benefits the general public? Well, why can’t individuals believe overwhelming scientific evidence and get themselves and their children immunized for measles?

The behavior of our elected representatives is often more uncomfortably reflective of our own behavior than we would necessarily like it to be.

It’s been a wild ride this week. And God only knows what’s happening today. Well, certain people close to the current administration who are making profits from insider trading probably have a pretty good idea. That’s fun.

The grifting notwithstanding, is it not clear at this point that the fate of our economic system should not be subject to the whims of a single person? This has been like watching great-grandpa, who never drove a car, trying to parallel park a Winnebego on a city street. Yeah, he’s got the biggest vehicle and may eventually get it into a space. But there is gonna be so much damage. And so many enemies.

A common criticism for an editorial cartoon: “It’s not funny.” The common response from an editorial cartoonist: “You’re right.” That’s because the main goal of an editorial or political cartoon (a good one anyway) should be to stir a thought or even start a conversation. Humor can help, but it isn’t necessary.

Whether or not this cartoon is funny, I leave that entirely to you, the reader. I can only say that it is not purposely so. It was inspired by the video of the Tufts University student getting accosted by masked government officials, arrested without identification, and shipped to a holding facility without due process, which is just but one of many similar recent incidents.

That is not how America works. Well, it’s not how it was designed to work. But now it’s clear that all the rah-rah-rah by the current administration about constitutions and justice and life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is just a means to an end for power and control. Nothing funny about that.