My superpower is overthinking. I can overthink anything. Big, small, no matter. I can needlessly complicate anything.
A classic example is when my now wife and I were taking our pre-marriage course, and we were given a questionnaire as an exercise to see how well we were aligned as a couple. It was 100 questions. She finished in less than 10 minutes; it took me nearly an hour.
In the end, there were only six or seven questions in which we had different answers. But after discussing those, it turned out that we did actually have the same answer — I just had overthought those particular questions to the point of misinterpreting them.
For instance, one such question was something like, "Is having a child part of your decision to seek marriage?" I interpreted that to mean, "Have you talked about having children together at some point?" Sure! But what it really meant was, "Is she pregnant?" (She wasn't, which was nice because it saved the host couple a lot of follow-ups.)
Anyway, this is why I can feel a bit defensive when somebody accuses me of drawing a cartoon that is reactionary — of not having thoroughly taken into account other thoughts and angles. To this I can confidently reply, "Ha!" I guarantee you that I have absolutely overthought it. Granted, it may not always lead to the best result, but it's never from lack of effort.
So, given all that, I am particularly proud of the simple, clear message behind this week's cartoon: If you're implementing policies that consistently tank the market, then maybe don't implement those policies. No need to overthink it.
Editor's note: John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Public, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.
