It’s hard to think of a more powerful weapon in politics than humor.

Humor is endearing and relatable in a way that most other news isn’t. Most people don’t give much thought to the specific details of how a bill becomes a law. They are detached from the bookishly academic realities of where judicial precedent stands on quorum busting tactics or the rights of individuals to collectively bargain for better wages.

Most people just want a government that works well and is fair to everyone. The rest should be left up to their elected officials.

Still, limited insight into complicated political issues is one of the most fundamental problems with a representative democracy. I’m not saying there are better forms of government out there or that we should switch to them if there were, but Winston Churchill was correct when he said, “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”

Most of the blame lies with the media outlets whose sensationalist headlines dominate the news almost every day. It has gotten to the point where the only types of news that filter down to the average American are the cartoonishly hyperbolic talking points from the far right and far left.

It’s no wonder that the approval ratings for both parties are at all-time lows.

In just the last few weeks, we’ve seen Donald Trump switch from real estate billionaire to xenophobic bigot faster than a Tea Partier can count to four. Then, once the birther issue was put to rest, rumors began to fly, questioning whether President Obama was really qualified for admission into Harvard, despite being selected as the president of the Harvard Law Review and graduating magna cum laude.

Perhaps worst of all was evangelical heavyweight Franklin Graham’s insinuations that Obama is a Muslim — a nicer way of saying, “I don’t like him because he’s black.”

Humor is the perfect antidote for such a toxic political atmosphere. Our politicians and pundits need to be called out when they make over-the-top claims. They need to know they will be ruthlessly mocked when they propagate falsehoods with logical holes so big you could drive a schooner through them.

Nobody does this better than Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The two jokesters have been entertaining millions of viewers for years with their satirical take on personality-driven media shows on the left and right. And in the process, they’ve latched on to something that other shows have missed — the idea that it is OK to joke about serious political issues without fear of trivializing them.

Take the debate over defunding Planned Parenthood, for instance. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-AZ, took to the floor of Congress to solemnly declare that abortion services are “well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does.”

Try again, Jon. The number happens to be closer to 3 percent.

What made matters worse was the statement his office released in a sad attempt at damage control. Realizing that the original claim was off by a factor of 30, Kyl’s office said his remark “was not intended to be a factual statement but rather to illustrate that Planned Parenthood, an organization that receives millions in taxpayer dollars, does subsidize abortions.”

Not intended to be a factual statement? Stephen Colbert decided to respond by issuing a steady stream of non-factual tweets about Senator Kyl. Here are just three of my favorites:

*Jon Kyl’s torso is covered in superfluous nipples. #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement

*Jon Kyl can unhinge his jaw like a python to swallow small rodents whole. #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement

*Every Halloween Jon Kyl dresses up as a sexy Mitch Daniels. #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement

When done well, humor can serve the dual role of entertaining and informing.

The news doesn’t have to be as dry and monotonous as some of my theoretical and applied mechanics lectures. It can be fun and energetic while putting an entirely different spin on the same material, just like this weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

But most of all, humor can help us focus on the important challenges we face as a country by getting rid of the silly nonsense cluttering our national debate.

As Mark Twain once said, “Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”

_Jason is a senior in Engineering._