Tannishblog

I look out my window this morning at the post-snow storm fog and notice a neighbor’s SUV with a single faded support ribbon, only a pale blue smudge marks the once colorful message in support of our troops. Also, as I drive around for work I notice far fewer political slickers on vehicles as last year. I never litter my bumper with slogans because I’m never quite sure if they come off. I picture hours of furtive, sweaty labor in garages across America peeling, scrubbing and scraping the backsides of our chariots to rid ourselves the humiliating association of a loosing candidate. Yes; the Kerry stickers were the first to go.

I still see, in my travels throughout lower Wisconsin, the occasional Bush ’04 oval affixed to window or rear panel, and for some odd reason the colors haven’t faded over time. Perhaps they are secretly being replaced with fresh ones, or – more likely – the evil powers creating them have magicked the dyes against fading. I have noted before how the Bush supporters tend toward aggressive driving habits in large vehicles; perhaps their trying to compensate for something…

Democracies must give a minimal nod to the mood of its people. Whatever an administration decides, it must try to involve public opinion. To do less is folly. Yet this is what our administration is trying to accomplish: forcing an agenda of imperialism in the guise of spreading Democracy without any nod toward Democratic controls at home. Bush and Co. does not hear the ever fickle voice of the people. Weather one agrees with the administration or not, one thing stands out; they have their ideas set in stone. Yesterday’s pep rally at the Republican National Convention shows how little they care about the shifting mood in America. Their message is clear, to paraphrase Roald Dahl: They’re right, you’re wrong, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.

Meanwhile the silent message of fading and disappearing stickers continues across America. The will of the people doesn’t always have to be spoken aloud. Politicians of both camps have the unfortunate propensity toward blindness. The Democrats were blind to the shift which brought the current crop into power, and now the pendulum returns.

We average, grubby Americans of the working class love the troops as we ever have, but we want them home. We cannot back a war without clear gains, and we cannot support leaders who won’t listen to us – or at least pretend to listen. In the minds of more and more Americans, Iraq is a loosing battle; time to set aside our ridiculous national pride and lick our wounds. It’s over.