Question: Bumper Sticker Elitism?

“Am I Liberal or just well-educated?”

That’s what I read on the bumper sticker of the car parked in front of me while driving around today. At first, being somewhat left-leaning myself, I thought I was supposed to agree with the sentiment. But when I thought about it? Not so much.

Because even though I tilt to the left, I know and respect people who tilt (at least a little) to the right. And they’ve been to college, and graduate school.

Yes, I get the point of the sticker; it’s saying, if you’re conservative, maybe you don’t have all the facts. But the conservatives can say the same thing to the so-called liberals. We can all finger point all we want, and I see that our President is already getting in hot water with pretty much everybody, but he’s just trying to actually do his job, which is uniting people for causes and issues that affect everybody.

What I don’t like about the sticker is the implication that conservatives are red-necked, possibly only GED-diploma-carrying troglodytes. That’s not very nice.

So the snarky stab at elitism just doesn’t sit well with me. I mean, I’m well-educated and many would say liberal, but I’m not denying the existence of well-educated people who believe in less government or lower taxes. I don’t have to agree with everyone, and I don’t, but I don’t need to be insulting.

To me, this sticker gives the liberals a dodgy name. And frankly, the word liberal doesn’t need to be besmirched any more than it already is here in the USA.

To be called liberal in this country is a tricky thing. Where I’m from (Canada) we have a freakin’ Liberal Party. It’s not a swear word or a slur when it’s used in Canada. But here, what with hateheads like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh spewing their vitriol multimedia-style, “liberal” can be a real epithet.

And why do people put bumper stickers on their cars anyway? Your car is not your dorm room. Save your sentiments for the wine bar, or the pub, or the barbeque, or the Raiders game; I don’t care, just don’t stick your snark so close to my car. Please.