Driving home last night I was behind a Camry with two bumper stickers the first was a Jim Webb campaign sticker and another was Turn Virginia Blue from the Act blue campaign. Don’t get me wrong I’m not against democrats, or republicans for that matter. I’m against the extremists in these groups who are almost as hate mongering in their own way as any group that is founded more on prejudice than principles.
I’m definitely moderate but I’m strongly opinionated in my moderation so don’t believe that I sit the fence. What I really hate though is using the back of your car as your personal political or religious proselytism launchpad. This argument goes back to college for me. I was commenting to a friend how much I disliked the darwin symbol. I have no beef with darwinism per say, but to me when you take a symbol religious significance and distort it to mean something completely different, well you’re borderline blasphemy right there. To this day it bothers me. My friend made the point that perhaps in some ways the icthus on the back of a car was just as offensive to people who didn’t believe in creationism. I had to concede his point. Logically then no one should put either symbol on their car. Seemed fair to me.
Now I know that someone is going to try to wallop me with the first amendment right about now so let me just head that off. I’m a full believer in the right to free speech. If not I might not be blogging right now. The point is, and I’ve made it before, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. To me this sentiment will forever be immortalized by Stan Lee’s Spider Man. “With great power comes great responsibility.” Perhaps this sounds silly but it’s so true. In America citizens have so much power that we take for granted. If you don’t believe that try reading up on what life is like in a country that has no civil liberties.
I think the real problem here is one of excess and irresponsibility. Think about this, typically the democratic party is found on the side of ecological conservation and yet every time an election rolls around you see just as much campaign propaganda material for the democratic candidate as you do for the republican party. What happens to all that waste after the election is done? It would be nice to think that all the paper and plastic is recycled. What about all that postage paid mail sent out though? Do you think all the constituents are going to be as environmentally fair minded?
I don’t want to get sidetracked by my zeal for political reform (another topic I promise). But I wanted to point out that we all share this responsibility. It’s so easy to point the blame at the government. Who put them in office? You and I, regardless of how we voted or didn’t vote, are responsible for the outcomes. I know this seems like a big burden, but I’m trying to give you something comparative. The term “Think globally, act locally” goes far beyond a mantra for environmental responsibility in this case.
I know this seems a stretch from bumper stickers, but we’re coming full circle here. When was the last time you had any kind of epiphany while perusing the vinyl bulletin board of the car in front of you? I mean a Gore in ’04 sticker really isn’t going to do a lot for me. The point is if I want to know about your political or religious affiliation I’ll ask you. If you’re really good I’ll just know by your actions, isn’t that so? I don’t mind if you’ve got your school alumni sticker in the window or perhaps an obscure reference to some band or 60′s TV show. Please, though, use your freedoms wisely. Let’s drive and keep religion and politics out of it. Deal?
