Worst President Ever

I wrote to Bart, of bartcop.com, about the WPE bumpersticker I had gotten from him, and which I have stuck onto the back of my 2000 Jeep Cherokee:

He was kind enough to post my letter on his site:

My parents (who are in their 70s and survived Stalin's USSR and WWII), although they hate Bush almost as much as I do, were apprehensive about my putting the WPE sticker on the back of my Jeep. They live in a Republican neighborhood, and thought it might upset their neighbors, or that crazy people might take it out on my car.

Imagine their surprise when their next door neighbor wandered over, took one look at it, and launched into a diatribe against Bush. This guy is a retired plumber, devout Catholic, and generally pretty conservative.

I told them similar things happened to me all the time. When I went to a local hardware store, and the owner saw the sticker, he also launched into an anti-Bush diatribe. A woman at the drugstore sees my stickers, and asks me where to get some.

So many people have been cowed into silence, and are afraid of being labeled "un-American" if they don't "support their president" that they don't realized how many people out here in the heartland really agree with them. Bush is "hated" by a majority of Americans. Look at the polls.

All it takes is a sticker (or a T-shirt) to get the conversation going, an outward sign that acts to catalyze the conversation. And once people start talking, they come flooding out, the pent up feelings they've had. It's as though they are relieved to finally express what they really believe.

Thanks Bart!

And, everyone out there, don't be afraid. Speak up. You'll be surprised to discover how many people really do agree with you. Remember, as Teddy Roosevelt said:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else."

(No secret symbolism here. I just liked this picture of Teddy and the teddy bears.)