Conservative in a Blue State: Political Cartoons are Alive and Well among the people of Riverhead, NY

The idea of the political cartoon as an expression of our right to freedom of expression has a history that goes back well beyond the founding of our nation and the Bill of Rights.  Martin Luther used illustrations to make his visual protests.

Benjamin Franklin's "Join or Die", which depicts a snake whose severed parts represent the Colonies, is acknowledged as the first political cartoon in America. The image had an explicitly political purpose from the start, as Franklin used it in support of his plan for an intercolonial association to deal with the Iroquois at the Albany Congress of 1754. It came to be published in "virtually every newspaper on the continent"; reasons for its widespread currency include its demagogic reference to an Indian threat as well as its basis in the popular superstition that a dead snake would come back to life if the pieces were placed next to each other. Franklin's snake is significant in the development of cartooning because it became an icon that could be displayed in differing variations throughout the existing visual media of the day-- like the "Don't Tread on Me" battle flag-- but would always be associated with the singular causes of colonial unity and the Revolutionary spirit. In the same way that Biblical stories are an element of shared culture, "Join or Die" became a symbol to which all Americans could respond. Even though the Albany Congress was a failure, Franklin's snake had established a connection between a drawing and a specific political idea in the American imagination.

Today, in the town of Riverhead, the people, like Franklyn and Luther before him are angry and the use of the art of the political cartoon allows us to both express our anger and unite to a common cause.  Our town is a disaster, (and has been declining for years when other towns nearby have been developing) our streets (with the exception of six months before the election of the person responsible for them) are a disaster, precious town property is sold at pennies on the dollar to people who promise the moon but instead seem only to moon us.  “Sand miners” steal precious top soil and sand from our town leaving devastation in their wake.

Enough!  The Cardinale Comics are created by a sweet little old lady named Silence Dogood. This wildly popular weekly comic strip is sweeping Riverhead by storm. Rumor has it that fax machines and printers are running out of paper and ink. Lets take a comedic look at how Riverhead Town Supervisor Phil Cardinale really screwed this town up. Satire and parody have served for generations as a means of exposing political injustice. The First Amendment protects satire and parody as a form of free speech and expression.