Now that the political season is moving along in earnest, it’s time to examine the Monster Raving Loony Party.
And I don’t mean the party of MAGA loons who obsess over Jewish space lasers and idolize the Proud Boys.
The Loony Party actually exists, in our mother country across the pond – where for 40 years its tongue-in-cheek candidates have run for office under the slogan, “Vote for insanity –you known it makes sense.”
The Raving Loonies have actually won a few low-level elections, but their main focus has been on bringing humor into England’s political process – hence, one of their platforms is “Free custard for all.”
Levity is something we Americans will sorely need as we endure the months of bombast that surely lie ahead.
Political alliances with quirky names aren’t confined to the Brits – we’ve had some of our own.
Back in the 19th Century, the “Know Nothings,” who were anti-immigration and convinced the country was awash in conspiracy (sound familiar?) actually managed to elect a congressman in Massachusetts.
The movement got its name because members were required, when asked about their internal doings, to reply, “I know nothing.”
Also widely active back then were the loosely organized, anti-corruption “Mugwumps.” They claimed to have swung the 1884 presidential election to Democrat Grover Cleveland over the GOP’s James G. Blaine, whom they suspected of shady dealings. They took their name from the Algonquin word “mugquomp,” or “great leader.”
Then there were the Moose folks – Teddy Roosevelt and his Bull Moose Party in 1912, and during our own time, the legendary Robert Healey’s Cool Moose Party right here in Rhode Island.
You had to appreciate the common-sense humor of the late Healey, who ran for lieutenant governor only because he thought the office was useless and wanted to abolish it.
As for where we stand today, Will Rogers corralled it long ago when he observed, “Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.”
Much longer ago, Napoleon put it even more succinctly when he declared, “In politics, absurdity is not a handicap.”
Hard to believe he could have been so prescient without ever seeing Marjorie Taylor Greene yawping wackiness beneath her MAGA cap.
No wonder Mark Twain was once moved to observe, “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”
Even politicians themselves have taken amusing jabs at the political process.
John F. Kennedy, whose self-deprecating humor worked to his advantage, once quipped while campaigning, “I just received the following wire from my generous daddy: Dear Jack, don’t buy a single vote more than is necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide.”
And Ronald Reagan once noted, “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”
So let’s smile as best we can in the trying months ahead, while making sure we defend our nation by rejecting liaisons with monster raving loonies – the ones on our own side of the Atlantic.
Gerry Goldstein (gerryg76@verizon.net), a frequent contributor, is a retired Providence Journal editor and columnist.
