Badger Club: Laughter the best medicine for political exhaustion

When it comes to American politics, we have a become a bi-polar society in that the public’s opinion has generated a dysfunctional government.

The Badger Club sponsored a serious examination last August of how gerrymandering creates “safe seats” that permit the election of more-extreme, less-compromising candidates on both the right and the left of the political spectrum. On Jan. 25, we offer a humorous view (but with a bite) of how the American political landscape has changed over the past 35 years.

The Badger Club’s annual meeting will feature a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist David Horsey.

David began his newspaper career while attending the University of Washington, and was the editor-in-chief of The Daily. From 1979 until 2011, he was the editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. In 2012, he became a political commentator for the Los Angeles Times.

He has twice received the Pulitzer for Editorial Cartooning. He has also received the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for his cartoons related to social justice. His fascinating career has taken him to national political conventions and presidential primaries as well as to the Olympic Games and the Super Bowl.

Oh, and he likes to spend some of his free time working as a cowboy in Montana.

So why a cartoonist? Mostly, we just need some laughs for an evening.

The Badger Club is committed to civil discourse and engagement, to “discussing issues that shape our future.”

Over this past year, the issues we thought important to put before the Tri-Cities seemed increasingly divisive — we addressed health care, the impacts of minimum wage, a carbon tax to incentivize climate change solutions, free speech, and World War II internment camps.

Although it was easy to think of relevant topics, we sometimes found it difficult to get speakers to take a side or even come to our table due to the divisive discussions taking place around these topics.

This is a tense time in our society; the world appears to be changing ever more rapidly — it is both energizing and frightening.

The humor and satire found in political cartoons gives us a moment to laugh, to take a breath, to think. They have long played a role in civil discourse. They amuse us, sway us, and most importantly they make us think about current events and our own opinion of them.

David’s talk will use examples from his cartoons of how politics have changed over the past 35 years and are putting “democracy in a tailspin” because of political polarization and government dysfunction. His experiences with both Washington state and the national scene will make this a fascinating evening.

David has authored eight books of his cartoons — some will be available at the meeting, and he will be available for signing.

The Columbia Basin Badger Club is a nonpartisan Tri-City organization that is dedicated to civil discourse on topics important to our region.

This story was originally published January 20, 2018 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Badger Club: Laughter the best medicine for political exhaustion."