Archie Bunker Was Satire. Today, He'd Lead the GOP Primary.

I used to laugh heartily at Archie Bunker of All in the Family. His character was satire of an unintelligent bigot.

Archie Bunker was low class, arrogant, dumb and intolerant of other people. He was simply ridiculous. We all laughed at the stupid things he said and believed.

Who knew that 40 years later the GOP would devolve into satire. Who knew that someone like Archie Bunker could win an election today.

The conservative masses follow dumber and dumber people. I didn't think they could get worse than W, but then I heard Palin. Then Bachmann. Then Gohmert. Now they have someone who has to tell people that "he's really smart": unapologetic racist Donald Trump. Like Trump, Archie was dumb and bigoted. The difference is that Archie Bunker was likeable.

You see, unlike Donald Trump, Archie Bunker wasn't a one-dimensional character.

The writers forced Archie to confront his bigotry several times. Whether it was learning he had a blood transfusion from a black man, dealing with black neighbors or finding out his best friend who passed away was Jewish, we saw that Archie was able to grow. There was always a better person inside that the other characters were desperate to pull out, and we were happy to see it.

That is simply not the case with Donald Trump. In fact, Donald Trump is nothing more than a human cartoon.

Trump is a man completely incapable of any humility or introspection. He is hate incarnate. Whether its Mexicans, "the blacks", the Chinese, Arabs, what-have-you, there is no reaching the Donald. There is no "better" person underneath.

If "the Donald" was a character on TV, we would say the writers were terrible. What kind of real person says he never makes mistakes? Who says everything he does is "great" or "the greatest ever"? Who says they have no flaws? (He even said his hair is great.) The Donald even said he never had to ask God for forgiveness for anything becaue he's perfect. (I think his first two wives would disagree.)

In fact, if Donald Trump was written as a character on All in the Family, the writer who dreamed him up would be fired because he would be too unbelievable. Too shallow. Too one-dimensional. Think about that.

But this isn't about Donald Trump. It's about the GOP electorate. It's about how far they have fallen.

I recently watched an episode where Archie Bunker had an absolutely hilarious rant on guns. Essentially, his idea involved giving out guns to all the passengers before they board planes at airports.

Funny and stupid right? Here are comments:

I would vote for Archie over anything the democrats would put up. -Nimrod

Archie Bunker was right on! ... Liberals just dont get it. No matter how strict gun laws are, somebody will always get their hands on a gun which will mean more homicides. Its really not that hard to figure out. -Alex R.

yep he was right even way back then ..................those where the days !! -WATCHMAN 7777

Even Archie Bunker got it back then ;-) -Robyn K

Look at that Meathead, sitting there like a brain dead zombie Liberal loving commie. Archie, laying down the facts and truth, Archie Bunker for president! -Roachcannon

Unfortunately, the GOP is full of these idiots who don't have a clue that this was supposed to be satire. They actually WANT this type of thinking in a leader.

These are the people who are ensuring that gun massacres continue almost every week in this country. They cling to their ideology so hard that they have even decided that the slaughter of small children is acceptable as long as they aren't inconvenienced by a background check.

These people want ideologues. Worse, they want ideologues who are stupid. This is why we have GOP leaders today like the Oklahoma governor who can't name the three branches of government. Or that idiot who thinks cancer is a fungus. Or anything Florida. The GOP voter isn't ashamed of ignorance--they celebrate it.

The GOP voter isn't ashamed of hate... they promote it.

The GOP voter isn't even ashamed of shame. Philandering (Trump, Sanford, Vitter) is rewarded. At least Archie Bunker had some morals. I'm sure he would have a problem with child molestation or gunning down children. Archie NEVER would have tried to defend either, unlike today's GOP candidates (Huckabee, Santorum).

Also, at the very least, Archie Bunker was funny.

But there is nothing funny about people who, today, don't view Archie Bunker as satire but rather a misunderstood genius ahead of his time. These people should not be choosing our leaders. We should make sure we don't let them.

Please get involved in our next election. Please relegate satire to our old sitcoms, not our elected offices.