Ben Garrison Symbolism

The United States (US) has always had some amount of political division, and this has become much more visible over the years. Much of the American public appears to genuinely believe that the Republicans and Democrats are fundamentally different and that these differences are near unreconcilable. Such beliefs were brutally apparent during the 2016 US Presidential Election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Despite this being the commonality, there are some outliers, some of which suggest that this division is nothing more than a façade. Illustrating his belief that the entire system is a fraudulent sham, Ben Garrison (the Rogue Cartoonist) draws an entity of truly massive proportions, marching onward as ever before whilst crushing people underfoot. Garrison uses a variety of symbolic images, including the enormous figure, the people on the ground, and the large megaphone to represent his perspective on the American political system.

First, we must understand that the entity itself is symbolic of the American political system.

This entity, the system, is utterly gargantuan; the entity also stands tall enough to surpass the height of the clouds. The literal, tangible size of the being represents the sheer size and power of the American political system. The head is shown as a pyramid with the all-seeing eye, explicitly labeled as the “Global Elite Bankers”, representative of the corruption and shadow governance which Garrison believes to be prevalent in the US political system. The legs of the entity symbolize the two predominant US political parties, the Republicans and Democrats. Each leg is adorned with the colors of the respective political party, and are dressed in clothing which appears to be militaristic in nature, attesting once more to the power and force of the system itself. The legs are shown moving swiftly and powerfully, propelling the entity forward at a breakneck pace, without regard to anyone or anything

else.
Underneath the entity lies two people, one Democrat, one Republican, who are depicted as being crushed by the entity itself. As the entity marches on, these people are crushed underfoot, ground into the wet, muddy ground with every step. This represents how the US political system regularly fails, and sometimes outright harms, its citizens. Each person, whilst being crushed by the entity, shouts emphatically that they will vote the other way in the next election. As is plainly visible to readers, voting one way or another did not and will not actually change anything, and he who voted Democrat is being stepped on with the same fervor as is he who voted Republican. This shows how fraudulent the political system is, especially in that it continuously attempts to convince people that voting left or right is a legitimate choice when it is nothing more than an illusion of choice rather than choice itself (Garrison, The March of Tyranny).
Another way to represent the illusion comes in the form of the megaphone. As the entity walks, it barks orders. These orders come from the entity and are conveyed to those below through his very large and very loud megaphone, the mainstream media. The mainstream media outlets, in Garrison’s view, simply parrot the words of their masters, the global elite bankers, back to the public to convince them, as always, that they have a meaningful choice. These orders are illustrated in the cartoon as sharp, loud orders proclaiming, “LEFT! RIGHT! LEFT! RIGHT!”, proclaiming to the people which way they ought to vote. This is a direct representation of the way the media works in the real world, in which they pick a favorite and shout about their successes and benefits to the rooftops while conveniently ignoring their shortcomings, then shouting about the shortcomings of their opponent while conveniently ignoring their successes and benefits; however, whether the mainstream media is simply repeating what the “global elite” tell is uncertain.
As a whole, Ben Garrison does an exceptional job conveying his point with the use of vivid imagery and overt labels to clarify the less clear-cut items in the cartoon. All the symbolism present points to the singular meaning with almost no possibility for confusion, effectively ensuring the reader’s understanding of the cartoon’s purpose. Garrison excellently conveys his opinion that the American political system is corrupt, fraudulent, and broken with this cartoon.