Graphic Art: Godwin's Law and the Art of Protest

One of the recurring themes here at Poli-Tea is the two-party system's inability to represent the many people whose political interests are not accounted for by the duopoly machine, with a focus on independent and third party voters. However, the limitations of the duopoly form are that much more apparent in the system's failure to adequately represent the interests of even avowed Republicans and Democrats. The result, of course, is widespread protest. However, in a kind of trickle down political economy, ideological divisions among political elites structure the partisan resentments of the politicized masses. Conservative Republicans did not rally against the massive expansion of government powers and trillion dollar expenditures under the Bush administration. Similarly, liberal Democrats ceased mass protests against the warfare state once it came under the control of their favored party. I have argued before that lesser-evilism is one of the primary practical expressions of political negativity in the US, but the reactionary character of mainstream politics under the conditions of the two-party state may be most apparent in the propaganda techniques of American protest groups. Godwin's Law supplies the principle. A more or less random sampling of protest art from around the web: