Comics wank colliding with political wank: Like matter and anti-matter ...

[box_in_the_box]

I look forward to seeing the perfect storm of wank calm and rational debate that will ensue in the comments, between competing factions of both superhero comics fans and public policy ideologues.

Superman supports health care and welfare!



From back in the day when Superman used his moral force to say we should do this because it's the right thing to do for our neighbors, never mind if it cost us some tax dollars.

Of course, today he'd be attacked for his position because, after all, he's an illegal immigrant.

And like so many other illegals, we just want him to clean up our messes and do the jobs we can't do for ourselves for non-existent pay, but that doesn't mean we have to acknowledge when he might have a point.

But I could be mistaken. Is there someone out there who can explain why Superman is wrong?

(Hat tip to Kevin H and Wesley Osam.)

This was originally posted online near the end of August, but I don't recall seeing it on this comm, so I thought I'd share it with you all.

Comments

[arilou_skiff]

Heh, snerch.

[cmic]

I like the fact that the man who doesn't support The Public Option uses the phrase "red cent." Socialism!

[kenn_el]

Superman is NOT an illegal immigrant. I DO agree, however, with Supes taking a Liberal stance, as he ultimately sees humans as weak and unable to fend for themselves without his assistance.

[sistermagpie]

But here he's more saying they can help themselves by helping each other.

[halialkers]

Is there legal procedure to recognize someone born on Krypton as a United States citizen? He is not a human being however much he physically cannot be told apart from one and hence in the context of his arrival his citizenship is dubious. Under the 14th Amendment you have to actually be born in the United States, and birthing matrix != to birth on US soil.

[404glitch]

The UN declared him a citizen of every member-state in it's roster at one point, I think. That said, he's Superman... independent of his citizenship, everyone on the planet thinks of him as "theirs".

On the topic, Superman's optimism fails to take into consideration those that would willfully abuse the system for their own ends.

[halialkers]

The same UN that let the Joker be a representative of a member nation in-canon. Hurm.

And I would note that welfare states have actually improved the quality of life in the West for the average citizen of it. The days before them were...less than pleasant, to put it mildly.

[jarodrussell]

I think it's more of a loophole than the idea he was "born" on U.S. soil. By all accounts that I remember, the Kents claim him as their biological son, so if they applied for and acquired a social security number for him, got a signed birth certificate, etc. then he probably is technically a U.S. citizen, even though the basis is fraudulent. Sort of like, "It's not a crime if you don't get caught."

[halialkers]

Which would be entertaining if he ever ran for President, then there would actually *be* a basis for Birtherism. And that is why Clark Kent would never be President.

[jarodrussell]

I don't think anyone (within reason, obviously some would) would deny that welfare states have improved the quality of life. It's the sustainability of that quality that causes concerns. History has shown that empirical falls are usually preceded by such welfare states.

[jarodrussell]

Oh, come on. If Barack Obama, who was clearly not born in the U.S. can be president, I don't see why Clark couldn't. I mean, honestly, "Hawaii?" That's not even a real place, much less a state.

[johnzdrake]

Ah, the Joker in the UN... And that wasn't even the Silver Age...

Not to mention the fact that this is a world where Lex Luthor gets elected president. When everyone knows in the real world he could only be vice president.

[halialkers]

When? Most empirical falls are caused by overmuch attention being paid to the soldiers at the expense of civilians when self-destructive, and in the case of the colonial empires factors beyond their control doomed them.

[halialkers]

True, nobody would elect a bald guy President.

[jarodrussell]

Rome is the example I've always heard: they stayed well-balanced until they taxed their outlying acquisitions heavily to sustain the welfare lifestyle of central Rome, and it all came to a head when the outer regions revolted. That seems to be similar to the problems facing countries like the U.S. and Britain today, only replace "collecting taxes" with "selling debt."

[halialkers]

Except that's not quite what happened. What happened was that Rome went from an oligarchic republic that brought freedom to places by killing 1/3 of it, enslaving another 1/3 and Romanizing the rest (sounds rather familiar) to strongman rule, by virtue of civil war and one general winning and establishing a system that sorta worked. Then another civil war occurred because said general never set up succession. Then that went to absurd extremes in the second century and Rome was never able to really restore authority over the tribes in Western Europe. QED.

[thokstar]

Given that Marvel/Real World seems to have elected G.W. Bush when DC elected Luthor, I consider that decision a positive for DC's citizenry.

[gargoylekitty]

I can vouch for that. I was totally born in a place that doesn't exist. ;p

[pyrotwilight]

Well, there was that one Armageddon2001 story that he did become President since the government eventually decided being born on Earth via a birthing Matrix was enough to count as being born on Earth.

[twigcollins]

The Fall of Rome is so interesting, as it just sort of, kept falling. Falling out of the Empire tree and hitting every branch on the way down.

[halialkers]

Well, not quite. Its eastern portion went through two phases of monotheism, one Christian, one Muslim to the degree you could say that the Roman Empire was forcibly dismembered at the Treaty of Lausanne. And arguably under the Ottomans the Roman Empire reached heights it never did under the Christian phase.

[twigcollins]

Superman's optimism fails to take into consideration those that would willfully abuse the system for their own ends.

Are we talking people managing to sneak out health care benefits or evil health care corporations?

Either way, I'd read that comic.

[kenn_el]

Whatever legal papers establish him as Clark Kent also contain his citizenship status. The Daily Planet probably did a background check, as did his schools.

[twigcollins]

Yeah, but I've heard a lot of people discuss "The Fall Of Rome" as if it was this one-time event that just happened one day. Usually because they have an agenda as to Why The United States Rome Fell, and it's more convenient for them that way.

The detailed history is much more interesting.

[kenn_el]

And he's right, mostly. But look at his condescending (and implicitly threatening) manner toward the guy who protested in the opening panels. The guy doesn't just have the 'wrong slant', but his words might 'infect' the rest of the hive.