Politics is as old as human society, and political satire is just as old as politics.  From Aristophanes to Will Rogers to Stephen Colbert, political satire is a constant source of laughs for more than just the policy wonks among us.  One of the strongest forms of political satire is the political cartoon, which boils complex and controversial ideas down into a poorly drawn picture and a line or two of text.  It’s amazing how powerful this art form can be.  Remember the one at right from your high school history classes?  It was drawn by Benjamin Franklin and published in 1754 in his Pennsylvania Gazette.  It was circulated widely among the colonies, and we all know where that little Colonial vs. Brit contretemps led.

The cartoons we have to share with you probably aren’t as world-shaking as “Join, or die”, but we hope you’ll enjoy them anyway.  NPR has an ongoing feature called “Double Take”, in which they show two cartoons each day from “both sides” on some issue of the day.  Here’s a few to get you started, and we hope you’ll make this a regular part of your websurfing day.