The problem is that politics has become and end in and of itself, or the parties define themselves by effective non-issues like which segment of the population should be even more taxed, the degree to which our police should be militarized, which citizens should be deprived of weapons, and precisely which countries we should really be invading.
(Note I'm a registered Democrat. Why? Because Selective Service registration was part of the social studies curriculum and we were instructed--presumably illegally, now that I think about it, but their reasoning was so we could see more junk ma...literature--to only sign up for one of the two parties. The coin landed tails. No metaphor. Actual physical coin.)
Anyway, my view on comics is that the Comics Code pretty much mandates what has become the classic "Liberal" perspective. You respect and obey your government and corporate institutions. Those who oppose these institutions are absolute villains, whereas those who defend the institutions are heroes...as long as they turn the villains over to the exer-expanding police force and social programs. Seriously, name a classic Silver Age hero who doesn't regularly get his or her mandate directly from some sort of government (or military-industrial corporate) institution.
Seriously, contrast a typical JLA adventure with a typical JSA adventure. Whereas the League protects valuable resources like uranium (for corporations to make a profit by selling bombs to the military, and occasionally overcharge the people for cheaply-generated electricity), the Society was feeding the hungry or putting an end to all war--personally and cheaply, I might add.
The "Age of Relevance" certainly didn't help, with that touchy-feely Hippie crap that Liberals have since taken as their watchword and has become THE distinction between the parties, for the most part. Let's not debate the collapsing money system or our overseas relationships. Let's instead bicker about whether people should be taxed directly or let businesses pass along the burden. Or whether we should fine people who don't have medical insurance, as opposed to wondering if maybe the AMA and the insurance companies are causing the problems.
Since that point, the message has consistently been that heroes who take the law into their own hands are brutal, disgusting vigilantes who deserve no praise except from thirteen year old boys who like gore. Thanks to Miller and Moore, we've also been treated to words like "fascist," to describe characters who are in any way against the government, ironically enough. The bad guys are also Republicans, because the "Republican platform" has involved war, I guess, even though the Democrats have seemed perfectly happy to be just as bloodthirsty overseas for as long as I can remember. Surely, the Clintons had nothing to do with Iran-Contra; the use of Mena Intermountain during Bill's governorship was clearly a coincidence.
I guess it's a long way to go for the point, and I apologize for what seems to be an antipolitical rant in part, but to me, superheroes aren't so much "Liberal" as they are...patsies. They spout the party line, whether that's "banks are good," "let's kill brown people," or "trust Big Brother."
