Sunday, February 19, 2012

Doonesbury Gets it Wrong - Again

Cartoonist, Gary Trudeau went too far this time. It is not often that a Sunday comic strip can create a problem but Mr. Trudeau’s Doonesbury strip for 2/19 manages a scorched earth attack on several honorable historical figures; the most prominent being President Abraham Lincoln.

The others denigrated in this diatribe are Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the Wright Brothers. Gary Trudeau has attacked virtually everyone who stands for anything since his strip began back in his Ivy League days.  He began his career, which spans decades, attacking the military and veterans of the Vietnam War.

Mr. Trudeau is trying to attack Republican candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Whatever his feelings about Speaker Gingrich he should never have drawn the following parallel; in the final two panels Doonesbury character Roland Hedley associates Abraham Lincoln with the words “demagogic, vindictive, racist, unethical, hypocritical, adulterous and sleazy” (Trudeau, 2/19/12).

I wonder how many of those terms Mr. Trudeau believes apply to Lincoln and what is his proof. If such is factual what does that say about our current president who claims his presidency is founded on Lincoln’s principles? Barack Obama often quotes Lincoln and approves of posters with both of their images going back to his own days as a candidate.

Think what you will about what Lincoln did but he was definitely a man of integrity who did great things at the most difficult time in our nation’s history. He was not a perfect man but he was the perfect man for the job at the time. Without his steadfast faith, the nation would have split and the institution of Slavery would have endured for many decades to follow – if it would have ended at all.

I have overlooked much of Doonesbury since the strip went national long ago. Trudeau is a committed Leftist who despises everything that makes America great. He has benefitted from the best this country has to offer, he has prospered in the free market system yet he still does not believe in the nation that offers him so much and asks so little in return.

Like many in the non-Fox Media (NFM) and entertainment industry, he is disconnected from the people he proposes to champion. He has no significant contact with the mythical “worker class” he thinks he is helping. If he were to meet people who are middle class, working for a living and for their families – people living in those “flyover states” he ridicules with his Liberal friends over cocktails and tea – he would realize they do not want his help.

American people who work know the value of work! They know the satisfaction of completing a job and producing results that improve the community. Working people are happy with what they can get through the work of their hands; without the help of big government. Teachers certainly don’t get up at 6 A.M. for the paycheck. Policemen do not patrol dangerous streets in the middle of the night because of the job benefits.

Most importantly, Mr. Trudeau, people like me did not sign up to serve in the military for 10% of your annual income for the sick thrill of flying overseas and shooting foreigners so rich people can get richer. We did it in the past and kids do it every day for much higher reasons. I could explain it to you but I know you have been told already; you just don’t listen. I do have a message for you though.

I am a Black man who has worked for many years. I have had disappointments and have suffered racism at many hands. But I still believe in America. No other place on Earth will give me a fair chance to move up from the middle class to the 1% through my own efforts. I know; I’ve been out there all around the globe. America is not perfect but living here is still a darn sight better than any of the alternatives.

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