Pardon me for being obtuse but I am sort of protected here living in Manhattan and not using a car very often (great for the environment but not good for checking out the wider environs regularly).
Twice over the past several weeks with the holidays I have driven out of the city and gone to visit friends and relatives on Long Island and also in New Jersey, both supposedly blue state affiliated. On these trips I have seen tons of ribbons on the rear ends of SUV's as well as other cars with Yellow Ribbons and Red, White and Blue Ribbons saying things like "Support the USA" and "Support Our Troops" on them.
What are these bumper stickers trying to tell us and does anyone know where these people get them? Seriously, I'm not kidding, I must be rather protected because I don't see them in stores but I don't have children so I don't know if they are being sold like Girl Scout Cookies and people are being forced to put them on their cars to avoid appearing 'liberal' or 'unpatriotic'.
My own bumper sticker on my car came from
NorthernSun and it says, with a yellow ribbon "Bring Them Home NOW" but I've never seen another one that says that.
What does it mean to support the troops? Does it mean to stick them in the hellhole known as Iraq indefinetly? That is what I surmise from their bumper stickers because to me it seems to say 'support Bush because we can trust him' or 'the government knows best' but from everything I've observed over the past four years Bush and the government don't know squat. The polls I've seen say 54% of Americans think the war is wrong and the troops should come home but these autos don't reflect that.
Please tell me your stories because I really want to know what the hell is going on where you live.