I don't believe in miracles.
I don't believe in God, god, or any form of omnipotent being.
But, I live in Texas. Yes, the same Texas commonly referred to as "The Bible Belt". The same Texas that is looking to teach children that this nation was founded on Christian values, by founders that were overtly religious in all aspects of their lives. I mean, except Thomas Jefferson. This is a state that hates the new health care law. HATES, especially if it benefits other people and raises your taxes.
My car has an Obama sticker (the Yes, We Did one) on the back window, a Giant Panda Guerrilla Dub Squad sticker on the rear bumper, and two more stickers informing everyone behind me that I am most certainly a liberal.
I work in one of the highest income per capita areas of the entire state for minimum wage peddling coffee and baked goods in a bookstore; therefore, my stickers are foreign and today I found out that they must be removed.
I get a few breaks depending on how long my shift for the day is. Today I had two. Two more cigarettes. 45 minutes of care-free phone browsing. But, on this particularly nefarious day, I came out to my car and found someone had attempted to scrape the stickers off my car. There were slashes through Obama's neatly graphicked face, and the panda of my GPGDS sticker was missing its eyes. I ran my fingers over the Obama sticker and felt scratches on the window and then recognized a moment of silence for my blind panda. Luckily, I had all but superglued the stickers to my car after living in Arizona during the election.
I took note of the attempted removal of my stickers, and went back to work. My next break brought me back to my car where I found the entire left side of my Obama sticker removed. I laughed. And then I sighed. As I walked past the bumper, the panda was now missing his left foot. I held a moment of silence for the amputee and pulled out a new, fresh Obama sticker to replace the torn one. More interesting than my having more Obama stickers in my glove compartment is that the vandals did not touch the stickers that read "Government for the people".
I've written before about government and politics and now I am tired of it. There isn't anything funny or enlightening about what our country is going through at this point. We are so divided, yet everyone seems to be erudite on every issue. Everyone knows the answers. I know the vandal is not reading this right now, but I will ask him or her to stop trying to remove the stickers from my car. I won. I have thirty more in my glove compartment. As for the panda, I will expect you to attend a show and get me a new one. And I wonder now what people see as a government for the people. This is a pretty bias question, but a fair one: Would you rather have a government that tried to help, or one that stepped back and let us all squander away in ignorance and self-righteousness? A simple solution for Americans to think about is getting an education. Go to school and stay in school. Our country is ranked 18th out of 30 developed countries. Yet, we have 12 of the top 20 universities in the world. Yes, that's right. If we can all come together in an informed way, our country will be much better off-- then we can save our scrapers for snow and swastikas.
Poorly paraphrased: "Let he who would dissolve our union stand undisturbed as testimony to the freedom by which error of opinion may be expressed when REASON is left to combat it." Or something like that. Then there's Franklin's letter to Benjamin Rush...one of them...talking about separation of church and state. And Jefferson's second (I hope I'm not embarrassing myself) where he talks about moderation in religion...taken in small doses...oh, and no standing army. I've been through the whole sticker assault. Only once. We have our teabaggers, though. These people, if you can freely use that term in good conscience, are real fired up about their precious deprivation system going the way of the dodo. They'll go their entire lives, most of them, proud, an embarrassment to the human species, an abomination (I did just use that word) on the face of the earth. Or, if they're in a boat, an abomination on the sea...or in a plane...well, you ge tmy drift. Good times...but then again, they invented hell and days of doom, so it all fits.
I live in Massachusetts, a BLUE state...And there are still the same types of conservative people who think vandalism is some form of patriotic act. Especially during the whole Scott Brown / Martha Coakley situation.
My townie "friends" hate the healthcare reform, but most of them have utilized the WIC program when they had kids.
And at work, I hear grumblings about the bill - from people who are in the tax bracket who will be helped.
I have an Obama t-shirt that I wear under my work clothes as a silent protest to them.
Keep putting out those bumper stickers. And good luck out there in Texas.