The Huckleberry Hound Theory of Government
Friday, May 13, 2011 at 5:32PM 
I was a member of the Huckleberry Hound Fan Club in the first grade—50 years ago. I do not remember how many box tops it cost. I got a membership card and a ring! I kept the membership card all the way to high school until it became too frayed to keep. Even back then it fit my sense of the absurd.
Now my second grader is watching Boomerang Zoo on TV most mornings, so I caught an old episode of HH. Huck is the Purpil Pumpernickel. He could not spell worth a darn, the King said. Huck would rob from the rich, mostly the government, and give to the people, my kind of guy! Huck gave a speech like he was a politician running for office:
Huck: I will build roads.
Crowd: Yeah
Huck: I will have free schools.
Crowd: Yeah!
Huck: I will have old age pensions.
Crowd: Yeah!!
Huck: Of course we will have taxes.
Crowd: Boo!!!!!!
As the preacher said in Ecclesiastes 1:
9 What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
10 Is there anything of which one can say,
“Look! This is something new”?
It was here already, long ago;
it was here before our time.
Lord Maynard Keynes famously said that in the long run we are all dead. He was right of course, and he is dead. But we are alive and living with the consequences of his philosophy, the Huckleberry Hound Theory of Government. Even if a bar offers a “free” lunch, you will pay for it in the drinks you buy. We are like a drunk staggering to our next drink without the understanding that we are in trouble. We must think that government is magic, rainbows, and unicorns. Instead we need to understand that unless we cut the deficit, the market place will refuse to buy our bonds, and at that point the cuts will be made in an unorderly fashion. It is ironic that the writers of this cartoon understood the realities of government better than either political party will admit today.
Politics 
Reader Comments (2)
1) You said "Either Political Party"... please note there are more than just TWO political parties. Consideration of the Constitution Party should be the order of the day.
2) I do miss Huckelberry's theme song...
"OH MY DARLING, OH MY DARLING, OH MY DARLING - CLEMENTINE"
3) How come cartoon characters like Huckleberry Hound, Quick Draw McGraw, Bugs Bunny, Baa Baa Booey, Yogi Bear, etc. all can be found wearing a hat, or gloves, or a bow tie, BUT NEVER HAVE ON Undershorts or Pants! All this during the prudish 1950s of all times!
Could it be possible that the 1960s sexual revolution and the start of moral deviancy was spawned by this obviously communist inspired plot to violate young impressionable minds with neutered, nude male cartoon characters???
There are indeed root causes to everything, and count on me to continue to bring the plain truth and missing dimension to the issues of our times.
Eddie H. Nessul
Amboy, California
I do not think it is any secret that I lean toward the libertarian party, and was friends with one of their congressional candidates. Yet I will stand by my statement that there are only two parties.