As we ramp up to the August election and the one in the fall, I'm sure you all have also been inundated with ads/emails/text/mailers and so on for the candidates (and even more so with requests for money to create even more materials.) One interesting nuance for me: The digital world seems convinced I'm a major donor to the Democratic Party, flooding my email inbox. The analog world seems convinced I'm a major donor to the Republican Party, flooding my mailbox. I'm neither, but it's very difficult to change the mind of a database.
I certainly don't read everything, but I do sample it. I'm now living in Michigan's 3rd district, so I've been getting a lot of Peter Meijer material. I consider Meijer a viable candidate because he seems to be a decent human being. (That's a baseline ...and yet a frightening number of candidates don't meet the qualification.) He also seems intelligent, which I think should be another requirement.
So I was disappointed to see the mailer include this: "Peter Meijer will continue to oppose Biden's spending spree that's driving inflation." Um, yeah. He's gotta know that's not true. Or at the very least know that it's highly misleading.
The reasons for sky-high inflation are considerably complex — here's a short video and some handy charts if you're interested. But suffice to say, there's a lot more to it than Joe Biden.
Now in Meijer's defense, the mailer wasn't actually from him or his campaign. It was paid for by the "American Patriots for Prosperity Sparkle-Sunshine Gumdrop Committee" (or some such thing) as disclosed in the fine print and was not authorized by any candidate. Which is problematic because it certainly appears to be speaking, if not as Meijer, then certainly for him.
Thus was my inspiration for a very cynical cartoon. Please don't let it get you down — you still absolutely need to vote!
John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
