Political Labels

We are seeing not just division, but danger

I ran across this drawing the other day, which I drew in 1995 for The New Yorker. I don’t recall the context, specifically what I meant or what news I was responding to. It was a trend I was seeing, I think, it was a time when some had migrated to the GOP, but were coming back to the Dems. We didn’t have the same “liberal” connotation we have now, nor did we have Democrats like AOC or Bernie—or at least they weren’t as vocal back then.

Political migration, that’s what I hope happens in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Everybody, come on over to the liberal side of politics, even if its just voting blue for the day! If you’re a Republican, just do it, just vote blue—it doesn’t mean you have to change your personal “label,” like this man in the drawing.

I hate labels, and was an Independent most of my life, even though I always vote blue. I joined the Dems in more recent times because I wanted to vote in the NY Primaries. When I began voting a long time ago, I didn’t see much difference between the parties, and compared to today’s world, there really wasn’t. But now the differences are stark, even within the GOP.

We are not just seeing differences, we are seeing danger.

Vote to keep our democracy strong and safe.