© 2025 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Michigan Public
All Things Considered
Michigan Public
All Things Considered
Next Up: 6:30 PM Marketplace
0:00
0:00
All Things Considered
Michigan Public
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Auchter's Art: Plenty is still broken

It's now been nine years since the start of the Flint Water Crisis. Nine years since the water source was switched and the troubles began. Looking back, it's not difficult to imagine how it could have happened. Humans and human institutions are inherently flawed. Choosing an option to save money without taking the proper time to understand the potential consequences is, well, human. Decisions like that happen all of the time and in many places.

However, the especially cruel twist in what happened in Flint is that it took so long — 18 months! — for at least some of the issues to be acknowledged and to begin the process of correcting them by switching the water source back. Clearly, that is not a timeline that a community with more money and different demographics would have experienced. Everybody knows that. But for people dependent on Flint water, they not only know that, they continually have to live with it. Assuming they're still living.

John Auchter is a freelance political cartoonist. His views are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management, or its license holder, the University of Michigan.

Since 1995 John has created Michigan-based editorial cartoons for the Grand Rapids Business Journal, the Grand Rapids Press, and MLive Newspapers. His cartoons are currently featured at MichiganPublic.org and are syndicated to newspapers through the Michigan Press Association. John is an active member of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. You can view an archive of his editorial work and other cartoons at Auchtoon.com.
Related Content
  • What's bizarre to me, however, is that leaders so keen to rally Michiganders to organize and stand up for their rights are the very same ones who vehemently oppose citizens doing the same through labor unions. Not exactly the first inconsistency in a political party that I've detected, but sometimes certain ones stand out.
  • When I was in college, one of my jobs was refereeing intramural basketball games. Sometimes it's no fun being the referee. Just like I imagine it's no fun being a politician. At least one that is actually trying to facilitate a fair game.
  • Florida governor Ron DeSantis hasn't formally declared his candidacy, but he is very likely going to be a Republican nominee for president, and Hillsdale College is something of a traditional spot to test those waters.