A few weeks ago, I sent a contribution to the Bernie Sanders campaign, and in return, I got 4 bumper stickers. On the back of my Corolla, I put the bumper sticker “BILLIONAIRES CAN’T BUY BERNIE”. It’s a direct message about Bernie Sanders and where he stands… with everyday Americans and not with millionaires and billionaires. The bumper stickers nearly got lost in the recycling bin when I left them on our china buffet in the dining room, and my dear wife mistook them for junk mail. After she told me that she had recycled them, I dutifully retrieved them from the recycling bin. I put “BILLIONAIRES CAN’T BUY BERNIE” on the back of the trunk and stashed the rest of them inside the car.
So fast forward to last night. I left my office and then wheeled on to the freeway. Not long after I got on the highway, another car approached on the left. The driver tooted his horn, and I looked over to the left, and there were two guys looking at me and raising their middle fingers. All I could do was laugh. I wondered if it’s the “BILLIONAIRES CAN’T BUY BERNIE” bumper sticker or the “TURN OFF FOX— BAD NEWS FOR AMERICA” bumper sticker next to it that prompted their reaction. I doubt they were Hillary supporters— I don’t think Hillary supporters would have that strong a reaction to a Bernie Sanders bumper sticker.
As the car sped past me, I noticed that it had a University of Cincinnati logo license plate. The childish behavior of the driver and his passenger belied the notion that the driver went to college. I wondered, what do these guys believe and what are their politics like that they would stoop to giving a driver with a bumper sticker on their car the middle finger. Then I figured out: they were heading north on I-71 toward downtown Columbus, and Donald Trump was about to have a rally at the Greater Columbus Convention Center that night. Yes, for someone who supports Donald Trump, who IS a billionaire, a bumper sticker that says “BILLIONARIES CAN’T BUY BERNIE”— that might be offensive to their reptilian brains. That doesn’t comport with what they have been told, that millionaires and billionaires are the “job creators” and are therefore demi-gods in the pantheon of right-wing crankery. This is not to say that I know they were going to Trump’s rally, but giving other drivers the middle finger is a sign that you rather strongly disagree with the sentiment on the other driver’s bumper stickers. It’s not just Trump supporters that would find such a sentiment— that a politician wouldn’t bow down to a billionaire— to be offensive. Most supporters of any of the ‘publican candidates probably believe that the superwealthy are to be looked up to just by virtue of their wealth, that the whole program of the Koch brothers and the superwealthy is validated by their wealth, no matter how they came into it. This is our problem— changing the minds of people who would have us live under feudalism instead of democracy.
BILLIONAIRES CAN’T BUY BERNIE!