Let the Sunshine In

Portraying Mitt Romney as Count Dracula isn’t an especially novel idea–after all, people have been using the term “vampire capitalism” to describe the business practices of Bain Capital for some time now, and even I have already portrayed him as a zombie, in reference to the similar terminology of “cannibal capitalism.”

However, it doesn’t take much thought for one to realize that the metaphor is terribly apt, since the classic portrayal of the vampire is a shape-shifter who drains the life-forces of others to indefinitely maintain his power and youth, while Romney has shifted positions on just about any political topic of the last ten to fifteen years, his personal fortune is built on liquidating other people’s assets, and he looks like he does at age 65.

Of course, it often takes more than an apt metaphor to make a good cartoon–you want it to say something, even if the thing that it says is something many people already know. In this case, I realized that the public concern over Romney’s tax returns, and his stubborn refusal to release them, is primarily an issue of transparency, and since laws expanding transparency in business and government are often called “sunshine” laws, the threat transparency represents to Romney’s candidacy (and possibly his not being in jail) could be well-illustrated with the concept of sunlight weakening or killing vampires (NOT making them “sparkle” because their skin contains “diamonds,” dammit–though I suppose that’s an appropriate metaphor for Romney as well, for a number of reasons).