By Brad Jones brad@jones.name Leftists often believe they can win an argument by parroting any number of mantras in rapid succession, such as "Bush lied, people died," "American oppression," or my favorite and most succinct, "racist!"
Everyday examples – I'm writing this as I visit the People's Republic of Boulder – are abundant. In an increasingly crowded media environment, such political sentiments need to fit on bumper stickers, and there's no better place to admire bumper-sticker culture than Boulder.
Endless lanes of Subaru station wagons inform me that "somewhere in Texas, a village is missing an idiot." There's still plenty of Deaniacs (excuse me, now "DFA" supporters) sporting fading campaign shwag, and I even passed a car with a Democracy Now! lightbox on US-36. "Impeach Bush!"
Conservatives have their own bumper-sticker culture – evidenced by the "No Refund for You!" crowd or the "It's Not a Choice, it's a Child" truckers.
Government these days stays more or less out of the business of buying ads, unless of course you're a taxpayer-supported monopoly like RTD. But there was a time in our nation's history when our nation's leaders asked us (shocker) to sacrifice for the greater good. Say what you will about Cindy Sheehan, but she can still buy sugar whenever she wants and isn't turning in her scrap metal for tanks.
What if Bush went on T.V. tomorrow and implored Americans, instead of going to the grocery store, to "use the land you have to grow the foods you need."
He'd tell us, "rationing gives you your fair share."
Flanking him would be military mothers saying, "Don't Travel -- unless your trip helps win the war." What if we were asked to pick up new bumper stickers down at the local post office?
The truth is Americans have been asked to sacrifice absolutely nothing for the war against Islamofacism. If we were, would the leftists pitch in, uniting behind our fighting men and women? Or would the ACLU file suit, deriding patriotism and elevating our enemies?
At least if the government asked us to conserve gas, the lefties could no longer cry "war for oil" ... it would just kill big bad Bush's bottom line.