Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for July 23, 2023

“Democracy” man is wrong. As the writer Garry Wills said during the 2004 election, when he finds none of the candidates attractive, he votes for the candidate of the party that supports the positions he believes in.

You live in a Republic, not a Democracy Pastis.

The unalienable right to avoid critical thought

We need ranked choice voting.

Poor democracy, man!

I am with Goat on this one! Poor society, man!

Currently, one party has ideas for bettering our situation, and another party just wants power at any cost, even if it means destroying our democracy by electing an authoritarian fascist madman. Oh well, we had a good run.

It should be “Constitutional Republic Man”

Democracy no longer exists. The rich and powerful criminals have won. Elections are manipulated and corrupted. We need a benevolent despot to get things back on track by purging government of all the self-serving pols and bureaucrats.

At least he can fly.

I want more democracy man comics

Vote for whoever is not wearing the red MAGA cap.

I’ve voted (and continue to vote) Republican for decades. My leanings have neither been far right nor far left; I’m pretty much down the middle. I understand that by definition I am referred to as a R.I.N.O. (Republican In Name Only). I don’t know if that’s meant to be an insult or a slur.

I am sympathetic towards social issues, but also want to see things back on the right track for a brighter future than what we have now. It all just give me nothing but one giant headache and really turns me off of politics entirely. If I can’t be accepted for my views, then I won’t participate and just write off the world as “unfixable”.

If I’m reading this right… in America you vote for the person? In all the democratic countries that I’m aware of, we vote for the party…

I always vote for the person that I think will do the best job, regardless of party.

I think voting for the best man regardless of parties is a good thing!

Vote for the man, and he votes with the party.

My folks told the story of when they lived in Missouri in the 50s. They went to vote and saw people voting outside of booths, sometimes using another person’s back to write on. Then the election workers fairly blatantly checked the ballots and, according to my mom, tossed the ballots they didn’t like. Can NOT verify, but that’s how Mom told it.

As long as you need a majority of the Electoral College to win the Presidency – not just a plurality – you’re going to have two major parties. More than two major candidates means that Congress picks the President. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are coalitions of smaller groups that got together to get 50%.

Love pi$$ing off both sides.

How ’bout we limit the time of the campaign like in other countries? Maybe two months?

Why is our country so divided?

Anything to save the US.

Here in Denmark we do have parties, but something like 10 different ones which works well. Those in government know it works best when doing broadly supported governing, plus there is no president so not one person gets to dictate.Also when there is a general election then around 84-85% vote, there is no nonsense with voting machines as votes are hand counted (making for easy recount if needed), no gerrymandering and mail in voting isn’t contested. And no one tries to make voting difficult, plus those of a crime can still vote – they are also human.

Democracy man understands that the country is royally f***ed

I vote for keeping the parties but not showing them on the ballot. No straight party ticket voting.

Goat got it right, punctuation means everything.

I always vote for candidates who I believe will do the least damage…

That’s not a bad idea. Of course if we really voted for who we think is actually capable, we’d vote for almost no one.

Does it matter? Where is Plutocracy Man?

Good to get political wisdom from a rat, a sheep and pig….

We discussed if the parties were eliminated and you had to vote for the person on his own merits, and we decided too many people would not get to know the person and vote for the “Pretty boy or Girl”, or like said above the one with the biggest bank account to advertise and get the name out more than the others.

“Power corrupts…” Not exactly. Those who are corrupt by nature typically are the ones who most actively seek power, and when they achieve that power is when their corruption fully “flowers.” The person that one wants in power is the person who really doesn’t want the job all that much. That applies across the board from cop on the beat or HOA president all the way up to POTUS.

I don’t vote for individuals. I’m not twelve voting the most popular kid class president. I vote for policy. As parties serve as a collective means to advance policies, parties are useful indicators or who will direct governmental action in ways I approve.

Thinking that voting for personality over party will produce anything but a demagogue is naive in the extreme. Do better, Pastis.

I like the comma in Goat’s comment.

Isn’t that why we vote? To elect the people each individual person thinks will do the best job, even though practically everyone sucks?

No Primaries, one election no party listed, force the voters to actually read.

My hero is Constitutional Republic Man.

I wish we could eliminate the Electoral College. Then we could have other parties that would be viable.

Ohio GOP is trying to take away voting rights from WE the people… and making it harder to change the amendments …

Making it harder to vote, with forever changing stipulations….BOO HISS!

What, you didn’t take any of the hundred or so mailers that you got from each party telling you which candidates are theirs into the voting booth with you?

Here in California we are not afraid of our voters, we make voting as easy as possible. All registered voters get a mail in ballot, we have drop off locations all around my city, we have voter registration right up to and including election day (your ballot will be provisional until the registration is verified, then it will be counted), you still can if you wish vote in person, we don’t care if you bring a bottle of water while standing in line. Voters can also put measures directly on the ballot, this has gotten expensive to do and it does make for a long ballot.

I wish we lived in a country where this strip applied, but America is not a place where conservatives and liberals are properly distributed on the political spectrum, and the way to improve our society is to give the ideals of each equal sway. Rather, a more effective means of saving the day would be for Democracy Man to fly so hard into the Earth that it turns the other way, and by doing so move us back in time, all the way back to 1977, 1996, and 2011. In 1976 he would convince Karl Rove that he is the best Finance Director for the Republican Party of Virginia that we’ve ever seen, and he should never ever leave that post. In 1996 he would inform Rupert Murdoch that reality TV, not news, is where the money is, providing him with Kim Kardashian’s current net worth ($1.7 billion) as proof. And in 2011 he would convince the son of renowned real-estate developer Fred Trump that Obama was just kidding around. If Democracy Man took those steps, America would be in a healthier place now. (Also, while we’re at it, maybe he could pick up Charles Schulz and bring him to the present so he can remind Pastis that, while he is very proud of Pastis’s first fifteen years as a cartoonist, a comic strip must grow and change in order to stay relevant with age).

Our hot-mess of a state, Illinois, wouldn’t be in the horrible spot it is now in if so many mindless drones didn’t vote straight ticket each election. THINK before you vote and consider each candidate and their beliefs and also their moral constitution before selecting!

Well, one party hates democracy, man. I wonder which one? The one that screams, “T***p WON!”, or the other one?

We’re really not a democracy. We are a republic. We vote for representatives, who then sell their vote to the highest bidder.

Thanks Steph.

“Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.” (As retold by Churchill)

I’m with you, Goat.

On a completely different note: I appreciate the subtle use of a comma in the last panel.

I like the idea, can we also get rid of pre-nominated people who just want power, and don’t know the issues?

It’s really sad when the comics come up with better ideas than either political party does.

Great idea!

Mr. Pastis, don’t expect Richard Dreyfus to ask for your help in restoring civics education. Though you have a point about voting.

It’s now up to who is the better liar..

George Washington didn’t want to see political parties formed, but after the first two elections thing got nasty, every body partied up and it’s been that way ever since.

But we are not in a Democracy. He should be Republic Man.

Keep in mind that when you hand the platform of the Democrats to Republican voters but leave that part out, they support it at about 70%. Tell them it is a Dem proposal? They immediately hate it. As soon as Republicans actually put forward a plan on anything to help anyone but billionaires, I’ll let you know my opinion of it. Don’t hold your breath though as I’ve been waiting for that since Saint Ronnie came in and ruined this country.

And here I was, thinking that I was the only person who voted this way.

I’m with goat here.

No way! That’s purely a Democrat party scheme to screw everyone at the poles.

John Adams, I believe, was the one who warned against the rise of political parties in America as early as 1781. It was one of the first warnings America chose to ignore. Even Adams didn’t heed his own advice, becoming a full-fledged Federalist and using the Alien & Sedition Acts to suppress his Democratic-Republican opponents.

The real funny bit – or not – is that you think you live in a democracy. It is called plutocracy – look it up. At least we know who owns who when it comes to sports. Time to add sponsor logos on the suits of elected officials.

People were outraged when we suggested they show their i.d. before they could vote. Asking them to have a little bit of knowledge would never pass.

Democracy Man (Ha! That’s laugh!) is a jerk. Besides defacing official ballots, he is assuming incorrectly that voters will know all about candidates just from reading their names! ’Tain’t so, McGee!

Wanted for Election Tampering and maybe Obstruction of Justice: masked self-styled “Democracy Man”! Reward offered.

We still have places where you can click a button / check a box for a party and auto vote for their nominees in all races. That use to be a norm.

weird. I’m in Oregon, we see both, scratch that, ALL choices on our mail in ballots – demoncrat, repugnican, and independent.

Wiley’s OBVIOUSMAN already has this ground covered

Non-partisan races at the top of the ticket isn’t the worst idea, but for down-ballot races voting the party line is pretty necessary. It’s very hard to find information on the candidates for some of the more obscure offices; I’ve tried. Knowing that a given candidate is running on the same platform as the candidate at the top of the ticket, and can probably be counted on to support him or her in most things, is often the only alternative to picking names at random.

The comma is everything.

Some candidates get elected simply because of the party attached to their name.