First, my apologies to any diaries I'm bumping off the page. But I would really like to get a take on what happened to me.
Last night, my husband and I drove our Ford pick-up truck to a local Mexican restaurant here in Ohio. Our truck has bumperstickers that say, "Regime Change Begins at Home," "John Kerry 2004," "BLET for Kerry," "John Kerry, a Grown-up for President," an American flag sticker, and the saying that I use as my sig line. When we came out to the truck after eating, someone left the following note on our windshield:
"John Kerry and his mob are doing the work of Lucifer. We will pray that you come to your senses."
It was written on the back of a religious postcard, letting us know how to establish "A Spiritual BASE for your life."
We laughed about it, and I was all "Woo! It's our first hate note!" I told my husband that I didn't care if people leave notes on our windshield, but they should at least have the balls to sign it. And that was pretty much it.
So I got home, and called my mom and told her what had happened, and her response was that I was basically nuts for having these bumperstickers on my truck in the first place. She thinks I'm taunting crazy people. She wanted to know why I have the bumperstickers on in the first place, and I said, "I live in a swing state. This election is too damn important for me to shut up about it. I have a right, just like anyone has a right, to express their opinions on their bumper." I then went on to say that I see bumperstickers all the time that piss me off, anti-gay and anti-choice bumperstickers, things along those lines, but that doesn't make me violent (we had kind of moved beyond talking about the original note, which isn't in any way violent). She was like, "Yeah, but you're not insane."
I don't think I should live in fear of anything happening to me because of the opinions on my vehicle. And I don't think anything ugly will happen to me here in Ohio - nothing more than a note or, at the worst, the truck getting keyed - which would suck, but I could live with it. However, here's my dilemma (and I am feeling better about it after seeing the polls this morning) - in September, we're planning on taking a vacation to North Carolina and Virginia. We'll be camping in various spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway. We'll be driving the truck of many opinions. Am I inviting trouble that's out of my league to handle by keeping the bumperstickers on my truck in this area? Am I being unduly paranoid? It's our vacation, we'll be there for two weeks, and I don't want things to get really ugly. I hate even thinking about this, but I don't know the level of polarization in that part of the country (although I'm suspecting it's pretty high). Advice needed!