On his show, Bill O’Reilly recently said “Traditional America as we knew it is gone. Ward, June, Wally and the Beave — outta here!”
I thought it was weird enough when conservatives attacked Murphy Brown, a fictional TV character. But now they seem to be basing their vision of conservative America on a classic sitcom — Leave it to Beaver.
But sure! Let’s take America back to the era of higher tax rates for the rich, back to less obscene pay for CEOs and hedge fund managers, back when politicians were spending more time bolstering the social safety net than trying to blame our nation’s problems on the poor or on immigrants (you know, the people who founded this country).
As Ruben Bolling said about his own comic:
The right has always fetishized 1950s suburbia as the idyllic landscape of “traditional” America, full of nuclear families, strong values, men in suits and Wonder bread (R.I.P.). But how would the world of Leave It to Beaver really see the 2012 election? Mitt looks an awful lot like Ward, but is Mitt’s Bain-inspired economic worldview one that Ward would approve of?
BTW, in an amazing show of overly sweet irony, the Wall Street Journal has a recipe for faux Hostess cupcakes but made with a high-brow bittersweet chocolate glaze and a white chocolate mousse filling, called Hostess Cupcake 2.0.
4 Comments
Maybe the traditional America that O’Reilley is referring to is Reagan’s America. After all, the noise about “job creators” is just a repackaged trickle-down economics.
Thanks for reprinting this! This will let me send the image to my friends, instead of just the gocomix link.
As to the LITB cult, that dates back to the Reagan years — all those slimy Young Repubs actively worshiped their LITB reruns as a lost golden age of America.
I think, despite the many sane aspects of that time that this cartoon points out, your subscribers who are female &/or of color would probably be less excited about returning to that time. I worked really hard so I wouldn’t have to be June Cleaver, and other women wouldn’t either. And you could make a case that the President wouldn’t make a very good Amos, or Andy, either.
Westomoon, I figured since the Republicans only want to return to some of the way things were back then (and a fictionalized account at that), I could have the same license when picking what aspects of the era of LitB I want to reenact.
Seriously, I don’t usually think of “returning” to an earlier time (progress is what being a progressive is about, isn’t it?). I’m currently reading a history book about events out west during 1840 through around 1860 (including the California gold rush, and the settling of the Oregon territory), and it is often uncomfortable reading about the treatment of the native population, women, etc.
Although I understand the impulse. I lived in New Zealand for 5 months, and it definitely felt like going back in time. Nobody locked their doors. Kids would go off to play for hours without any parents freaking out. People naturally trusted everyone, even strangers.
We had plans to move to New Zealand if the Republicans swept the elections. I am glad we can stay here. I do plan someday to have a summer (winter in Oregon) house there however 🙂
One Trackback/Pingback
[…] Leave It To Beaver (politicalirony.com) […]