“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The ironic statement is from the durable comic strip “Pogo” by cartoonist Walt Kelly, widely syndicated in newspapers from the late 1940s into the 1970’s.

The observation sums up the essence of our democracy, by definition. Our politics have always been fractious. However, developments have become especially tumultuous about every 50 years.

Pogo paraphrased the famous declaration by Admiral William Hazard Perry – “We have met the enemy and they are ours” – after the United States Navy won a great strategic victory over the British in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813.

Sharp political and social commentary characterized “Pogo,” in a manner somewhat emulated in the far less subtle “Doonesbury” by Garry Trudeau. Kelly first used a version of the “enemy” statement to refer to the anti-communist fears and hysteria of the 1950s, personified by Senator Joseph R. McCarthy........

© The Korea Times