Progressive Bumper Sticker

Arizona for Obama Button Shows A Rising Sun

Arizonans for Obama strikes a non-confrontational tone in its attempt to recruit voters in Arizona to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama for President.

“Arizonans, we can make a difference. From Flagstaff to Tucson and across the Phoenix metro-area, the political dynamics of our state have changed. Arizona has come to represent the return of American politics to the mainstream – where it is more important to solve problems of real Americans, than argue about being a ‘red state’ or a ‘blue state’. A mainstream where we recognize that there is more that unites us, than divides us. This campaign is about us, and as Arizonans, we have work to do. Whether you are in Tempe or Tucson, Phoenix or Payson, Sedona or Scottsdale - our energy, our time, our hope, and our dedication will determine this election.”

The Irregular States progressive directory notes the many subgroups of presidential activists coming together to support the Barack Obama presidential campaign in Arizona, including: Arizona Artists for Obama, Arizona Gays and Lesbians, Arizona Women for Obama, and Arizona Young Democrats for Obama, and Prescott, Arizona for Obama.

This political campaign button celebrates the high level of grassroots political activity going on to support the presidential campaign of Barack Obama for President in Arizona. It features the striking design of the Arizona state flag, which evokes a kind of idea of Barack Obama as a rising star, or of the United States of America at a time of new dawn.

In doing so, the button links the Barack Obama for President campaign to the old story about America’s first President, George Washington. The story goes that, at a critical historical moment in the origin of the United States, Washington was looking at a chair that had, carved into it, the sun on the horizon. He looked at that sun, and asked whether he thought it was rising or setting, a meditation upon the fortunes of the United States itself.

The Obama 2008 campaign asks us to believe that the sun may rise again, and that our nation need not remain in the darkness of fear and secrecy brought down by the presidency of George W. Bush.

Arizona for Obama button (2.25″)

California for Richardson a Toss Up

California for Bill Richardson is a mix of disappointment and interest. I found this California for Richardson bumper sticker the other day, and love the graphic effectiveness of its design. The sticker uses desert colors to evoke recognition of Bill Richardson’s status as Governor of New Mexico, but the main effect here is on Richardson himself. I’ve never seen Richardson look so dynamic as he does in this bumper sticker. With the vibrant jacket and active stance, Richardson even looks a bit like Elvis.

Over on the official California for Richardson page, things are not so hot. The discussion is good, as far as it goes, but I really don’t see any local issues being brought up. The topics seem to be national in scope, just copied into the California for Richardson space. There may be members from California, but no action for California. Note to the Richardson campaign - the space needs some help.

Whatever happened to the California for Richardson blog at http://www.ca4richardson.blogspot.com/ ? It’s been taken down, though Google still registers its existence, its last blog entry was April 25, 2007. The mission statement of the blog once read, “We believe that America needs a president who can bring people together, regardless of race, class, gender, religion or even political party. Bill Richardson is a talented, eloquent and experienced candidate that brings more than just rhetoric to the table. He has represented America in Congress and as Governor. He served as Secretary of Energy and Ambassador to the UN. He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize. We are California for Bill Richardson. And he is for us.” Now, the page is a blank.

California is a big state. There ought to be more action by the campaign to keep Bill Richardson competitive there.

An Abstract Blue Stream Design for Barack Obama

This Obama ‘08 Sticker is distinctive in shape and in design. Forget about the design cliches for presidential campaign gear, with the stars, the flag motifs, the eagles, and the dependence upon red, white, and blue.

This design gets more symbolic as that, showing Barack Obama, yes, but also representing his campaign in the background, as a blue stream, represented in abstract form as a cascade of blue blocks. Obama’s stream runs against a background of shadowy darkness, representative of the years of secrecy, deceit and betrayal by the Bush Republicans.

I enjoy this design just because it’s so different from the rest of the Barack Obama campaign gear that I’ve seen out there. People who design campaign materials ought to get more creative, as this designer has, but they’re afraid, as too many politicians themselves are, to step outside of the tried and true lines of past success.

Vive la difference! Vive l’Obama!

West Virginia for Obama

Over at West Virginia for Obama, the appeal of Barack Obama for President is explained as follows: “Barack Obama represents a fresh new approach to leadership, and has a vision for the future of our country that is based on sound principles and ideals. He has the vision, the integrity, and the ability to lead this country, but he needs our help.”

Sounds pretty good to me. That site, a real grassroots effort, and not just a PAC creation for fundraising, may merit inclusion in the West Virginia Progressive directory. I think I’ll get in touch with the people over there and tell them to have a look see.

I also ran across, tonight, a beautiful bumper sticker featuring the same message: West Virginia for Obama. This bumper sticker features a picture of Barack Obama, but also a range of mountains in the background, blue and misty, just as it is in West Virginia at dusk, if a bit more abstract in form. Have a look see yourself.

West Virginia for Obama bumper sticker

Republican Presidential Frontrunners Are All Muggles

In about 29 hours from now, eager readers in the Eastern Time Zone in the United States at parties in thousand of bookstores and libraries will get their copies of the very last Harry Potter book - Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows. It’s an unprecedented cultural phenomenon. Not the iPhone, not Windows95, not the Segway had this kind of pent up release.

The completion of the Harry Potter book series comes at a time when another tale of a battle between the forces of darkness and the forces of light is just getting started: The epic tale that will be the 2008 presidential election.

It ought to come as no surprise, then, that the emerging story of the 2008 presidential contest should be cast in terms native to the Harry Potter books. Underneath the wizardly surface of the Harry Potter world, the issues are ones that we’re all dealing with, a struggle between wicked, cruel and bigoted right wing authoritarians, and those who seek to use their power for more positive aims.

George W. Bush and Dick Cheney certainly have been in league with their own band of dementors, in the Azkabans of Homeland Security, Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. The Republican frontrunners for 2008 have had no direct hand in those affairs, of course, not having been part of the Bush Administration itself.

So, a different Harry Potter metaphor is being used for those Republican presidential candidates - one of denial of a powerful reality. When it comes to global warming, the shoe certainly fits. The Republican presidential candidates won’t see what’s right in front of their noses. They’re muggles.

Thus, the following bumper stickers: Mitt Romney is a muggle. Fred Thompson is a muggle. Giuliani is a muggle.

Can I Teach Evolution In Your Church?

When I saw this button, I just about fell over laughing. It’s a great example of how a well considered phrase can reveal the weakness in an opponent’s argument. It asks:

So, can I teach evolution in your church?

What a brilliant reversal of the Creationist campaign to force public schools to teach religious faith in high school science classrooms! The Creationists want us to pay taxes to teach religion in our schools, so why not have the reverse take place, and have churches pay for biology teachers to come and teach evolution in Sunday School?

The answer is obvious. It’s not the business of public schools to tell churches what they can preach on Sundays. Of course, that’s the point - the two realms are separate. Creationist Christians have no more right to push their religious beliefs in public school science classes than science teachers have the right to educate Sunday School students about how evolution works.

This button offers powerful rhetoric for an important cause. Put it on

For the Earth, Gore for President

Literalists say that Al Gore is not a candidate for President in 2008 because he has not officially declared that he is running a campaign. More comprehensive thinkers note that Al Gore has made a small fortune for himself through his work with Apple Computer, and has more than enough money to finance a presidential campaign all on his own starting at a later date than other Democrats.

Al Gore certainly is a candidate for President. He’s got plenty of grassroots support from Americans who recognize the seriousness with which he has argued for the recognition of the issue of global warming. As an author, a speaker, a filmmaker, and producer, Al Gore has shown the skill to persuade through facts, not faith-based shots in the dark.

Show your support for Al Gore in 2008 with this campaign button, featuring a picture of planet Earth, along with the message that Al Gore is the best candidate to protect it.

Al Gore for President 2008 campaign button — $2.75

Frederick Douglass and Rebellion

Many people who value authority for the sake of authority recoil at the idea of rebellion, believing that to disobey is a moral outrage in itself. Frederick Douglass, as a former slave, had a different perspective on the idea of rebellion.

Douglass could understand the negative ramifications of rebellion: The disorder and the possibility of destruction. However, he was able to remember that the alternative to rebellion is often tyranny. Rebellion is not the natural state of human affairs. People don’t have an inherent urge to defy people in power. On the contrary, most people prefer to get along and not cause trouble.

Rebellion does not just happen. Rebellion is provoked. It is important to remember that, as, Frederick Douglass explained, “The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.”

Frederick Douglass on Rebellion

Obama is Beautiful

Every now and then, there’s a slogan and a design that come together to express something that no speech could ever put together. That’s the case for the design and wording on the bumper sticker Obama is Beautiful.

The bumper sticker starts with inspiration from the 1960s, 1970s slogan: black is beautiful. With the colors of black and brown mixing together in a rippling whirlpool of subtle color, that’s the background.

There’s also a value in the Obama name, however. Right wing pundits attack Barack Obama’s name, as if the name itself, and being of partly Kenyan descent, is something to be ashamed of. It’s not. We need leaders with an understanding of the world, and Barack Obama’s ties to Africa and experience in Indonesia are factors highly in his favor as he campaigns for President in 2008.

Then, of course, there’s the literal interpretation. Barack Obama clearly has a kind of style that no other presidential candidate can hope to approach.

It all comes together without effort in this design: Obama is beautiful.