Local Inspiration

So I am reading the local alt-paper this weekend, and stumble across a fantastic editorial that really hit home.
Point Blank Editorial

Some of the stuff that is called out in this thing makes me laugh -- but with a bitter, caustic laugh. I mean really, he is right. I rather enjoyed the whole thing. But while reading it, felt there was a key topic missing from the list. So I have added one more that drives me freakin' batty.

Wearing Your Cause On Your Car. We have all seen them. The new metallic “ribbons” that have become as commonplace as the “My Kid is an Honor Roll Student at …” bumper stickers. Telling us at every stop sign and intersection that the driver “Supports Our Troops” or “United We Stand”. Of course all of these are decorated with the appropriate colors of the American Flag and the intertwined yellow ribbon.
I have to wonder, does the cause ribbon really mean anything any more? Everyone has one. Lest we forget the origins of the Red Ribbon – to support AIDS awareness. How many people are aware that AIDS is still pandemic in the world? Or how the yellow ribbon came to symbolize support for our troops? The song these ribbons were based on was about a convict returning from jail.
But I suppose in this day and age of conservative patriotism, I am viewed with a certain disdain for my lack of metallic decoration on my car.
Then again, even the scourge of the metallic ribbon has reached an all time low. I have now seen several in black and gold with “Iowa” on them. Funny, having just watched Iowa win their bowl game and finish in grand style, I was unaware that the university had fallen to the same depths of those battling fatal illnesses or young men and women fighting a war no one seems to really understand, except for a few people at 1600 Pennsylvania.

Gosh. I feel better.
My alternate theory is that in order to be a good red-stater you are obligated to have one on your car. It is just a matter of time before I am either ticketed for not having one or kicked out of the state. Hm. Is Canada still accepting American ex-pats??