Hypocrisy: we can't live without it...

People often ask cartoonists where they get their ideas and the answer probably depends on the cartoonist in question. In my case I was and am always on the lookout for hypocrisy; people saying one thing and doing another.

Plus, hypocrisy is pretty reliable source of cartoon material because there’s so damned much of it.

Face it: on some level most of us are hypocrites.

We believe that people should obey the law and then drive 75 mph when the speed limit’s 70 because what’s a measly five miles an hour? We believe people ought to pay their taxes and then forget to inform the government about that $300 we made in a cash deal. We think people should be kind and generous to one another and then hoard enough toilet paper to supply the 101st Airborne because what if we run out?

And that’s often where hypocrisy rears its attractive head: we believe in certain principles and then make exceptions for ourselves.

I’m as bad as anyone.

(For specific details I’d have to get a few cocktails under my belt and I don’t start drinking this early…yet. Give me another three weeks under house arrest and I might start having pina coladas for breakfast.)

Anyway…

For years I’ve been drawing about people who say they want government to stay out of our lives right up until someone else decides to have an abortion, smoke a joint or marry someone of the same sex. They also don’t mind government intervention when their car gets stolen or their house catches on fire.

Now some of those anti-government people are awaiting some kind of government bailout check.

That was going to be the basis of a cartoon until I read a friend’s Facebook post and the debate it caused and decided to pull Bernie Sanders and socialism into the mix.

People who are scared to death of Bernie Sanders and the word socialism, now want a lot of what he’s been advocating: government healthcare, schools that educate and feed their children, rent control and a living wage.

If you’re thinking this is an emergency situation and in times like these, government needs to step in, remember some people were having their own personal emergencies before we ever heard the word “coronavirus.”

Now the rest of us are having an emergency too and help from the government doesn’t look so bad.

I’m not telling anyone to vote for Bernie or become socialists; that’s up to you. But I am pointing out that government has a role to play and it’s hypocritical to believe that “government that governs least governs best” crap and then put your hand out for help.

And after all we’re going through, you still don’t want government in your life, send the damn check back.