Political Cartoon 4

This political cartoon by Rick McKee of the Augusta Chronicle is centered around the government shutdown scenario that occurs when the Congress cannot create a proper budget. Although in actuality, the House passed a nearly 1 Trillion dollar spending bill in order to avoid the crisis, the thought that if our elected officials had not compromised in time many "non-essential" government services would have shut down is still a rather unsettling one.

McKee uses many objects and techniques to convey the event in the political cartoon. The three main objects in the cartoon are the caricatures of the protestor and the congressman as well as the various objects that denote that the location of the cartoon is in Washington D.C. If the sign that says "Occupy D.C." in the upper left did not demonstrate that the Capitol was where the cartoon took place, the Washington Monument in the lower right could have also told you where this took place. The caricatures of the protestor and congressman are also very important to the piece. The protestor, drawn to look like a stereotypical hipster/hippie is angry at the politician and threatens to shut down the government. The congressman, characterized by a his suit and briefcase as well as his "fat-cat" figure, only smiles and responds with "Not if we beat you to it..." Many techniques besides caricature are used in the piece including the use of contrasts. While the protestor is angry, bitter, and not well put together, the congressman is calm, collective, and well put together. McKee also uses allusions through the speech of both the protestor and the congressman in which the two refer to the occupy movement and the government shutdown respectively.

All the symbols, objects, and techniques accumulate to help amplify the cartoon's and Mckee's message. As demonstrated by the speech bubble of the congressman, McKee believes that Congress, while having much more power over change than the Occupy movement, is doing little in terms of fixing the budget and stabilizing our economy even in the threat of a government shutdown. Even though the House was able to compromise and passed a near 1 Trillion dollar spending bill at the last minute, the fact that our elected leaders were not able to compromise until the very last second is unsettling and frankly just plain unacceptable.