{"id":2276,"date":"2015-07-04T09:32:57","date_gmt":"2015-07-04T13:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/auchtoon.2gtech.com\/?p=2276"},"modified":"2015-07-04T09:32:57","modified_gmt":"2015-07-04T13:32:57","slug":"happy-independence-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/?p=2276","title":{"rendered":"Happy Independence Day!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/auchtoon.2gtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/MLMG169.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2277 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/auchtoon.2gtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/MLMG169.jpg\" alt=\"Happy Independence Day!\" width=\"560\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/MLMG169.jpg 560w, http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/MLMG169-300x223.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/auchtoon.2gdata.com\/?art=\/2015\/07\/MLMG169.jpg&amp;name=Happy Independence Day!...\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/auchtoon.2gtech.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/buy.png\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Originally published in the <em>Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News<br \/>\n<\/em>July 5, 2015<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mlive.com\/opinion\/index.ssf\/2015\/07\/auchtoon_michigan_roads_politi.html#incart_river\" target=\"_blank\">Also posted online at MLive.com, July 4, 2015<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As an editorial cartoonist, it\u2019s hard not to dwell on the negative. There is just so much to be negative about \u2014 the continuing saga of our lousy Michigan roads, the complete inability of politicians named Clinton to understand the concept of transparency, pretty much anything Antonin Scalia says or does \u2014 it\u2019s a bountiful harvest. But whether an editorial cartoonist or general citizen, the trick is to avoid having the negativity develop into full blown cynicism. Yes, there are some things like the Charleston shootings that are undeniably awful. And there are plenty events and decisions that will set the little Lewis Black character in my head into a rage. (If you haven\u2019t seen the movie <em>Inside Out<\/em> yet, go <strong>now<\/strong>!)<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">But anger for anger\u2019s sake is a trap and, frankly, un-American. It\u2019s important for me to remember and be grateful for all that is good about living in the United States. That first amendment is pretty sweet, right? Enjoy your Independence Day!<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">And, yes, that is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ryanfischer.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ryan Fischer<\/a> front and center. The\u00a0most purely patriotic person I&#8217;ve ever known, so it was an easy choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Originally published in the Ann Arbor News, Bay City Times, Flint Journal, Grand Rapids Press, Jackson Citizen Patriot, Kalamazoo Gazette, Muskegon Chronicle, Saginaw News July 5, 2015 Also posted online at MLive.com, July 4, 2015 As an editorial cartoonist, it\u2019s hard not to dwell on the negative. There is just so much to be negative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-cartoon","category-mlive-media-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2276"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2280,"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2276\/revisions\/2280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/auchtoon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}