politics-5
Explanation
This comic is a joke about political roleplay in the bedroom.
A child asks: "Mommy, how come you have a shirt that says 'The Taxpayer' and Dad has one that says 'The Government'?" The mother, visibly flustered, responds: "Those are Mommy and Daddy night-time things and you are NOT to touch them!"
The caption reads: "Billy unwittingly found out about our insipid political cartoon fetish."
The joke operates by setting up a misdirection. The child discovering parents' "night-time" clothing with suggestive labels initially reads as a standard "child accidentally finds kinky roleplay outfits" joke. But the punchline subverts this by revealing that the "fetish" is not sexual in the traditional sense -- it is a "political cartoon fetish." The parents dress up as stock characters from lazy editorial cartoons (the put-upon Taxpayer and the bloated Government) and presumably act out heavy-handed political allegories in the bedroom.
This is funny because political cartoons -- especially the kind that literally label characters "The Taxpayer" and "The Government" -- are widely regarded as the most ham-fisted, unsubtle form of commentary. The comic treats this brand of political cartooning as something so embarrassing and shameful that it must be hidden from children, elevating bad political art to the level of a secret kink. It also satirizes how deeply partisan politics can become a form of identity and obsession for some people.