Philadelphia Inquirer comic artist Tony Auth published this cartoon on June 12, 2012, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled on Citizens United v. FEC. In the cartoon, Auth suggests that American democracy no longer belongs to the citizens by mocking the typical representation of American democracy in which the people have the power. The Norman Rockwell painting that we viewed in class features a working-class man at a town hall meeting standing and speaking while everyone around him quietly looks on. He has a pamphlet in his pocket to indicate that he is an informed citizen ready to participate in democracy. In this cartoon, however, the central man waves a fistful of money, suggesting that in 2012 the wealthy corporation has replaced the informed citizen in Rockwell’s representation of democracy.
The corporate man’s massive size and central location dominate the cartoon and emphasize the apparent irrelevance of the voices of the citizens around him. I chose this cartoon because he makes me think of Jim Taylor in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Taylor acts kind of like a corporation because, as he admits to Mr. Smith, he owns most of the business in his state. Taylor’s voice has overshadowed the interests of the citizens from Mr. Smith’s state for decades and the corporate man in this cartoon represents the way in which the cartoonist believes that corporations will ruin democracy by overpowering the voices of the citizens. In the film, one idealistic man is able to overcome Taylor’s corruption and protect democracy for his constituents. This cartoon presents a much more pessimistic view of democracy in which the citizens have no one to protect them because the court system has failed.
The regular citizens in the cartoon seem like an afterthought; they share similar features, look away from the viewer, and wear the same colors. The citizens’ secondary status emphasizes the artist’s belief that American democracy is no longer in the hands of the people. The portrayal of the Supreme Court justice as an auctioneer using his gavel—typically a symbol of justice—to sell off democracy likewise reverses the judicial system’s traditional status as an upholder of the democratic values enshrined in the American Constitution. The representation of the courts as the holders of American democracy is particularly interesting, as it suggests that democracy had already been removed from the hands of the people even before it was sold to corporations.
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