Progressive Bumper Sticker

Barack Obama and John Edwards Run for White House Together?

Last night, John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama for President. This endorsement had long been delayed, for the obvious reason that John Edwards was the most sought-after endorsement of the long 2008 Democratic primary season. The endorsement wrests the news cycle out of the hands of Hillary Clinton’. Even more important, however, are the 19 pledged delegates that John Edwards brings along with him. Edwards is practically his own state, politically speaking, and his endorsement wraps up the nomination for Obama.

Will it end there? Will John Edwards fade off into the background now? Don’t bet on it.

After seeing the crowd’s enthusiasm for John Edwards last night, combined with the tidal surge of support for Obama, I’d say that an Obama-Edwards ticket is more likely than ever.

John Edwards fits with Barack Obama, politically and biographically. Both come from modest economic backgrounds, and understand political issues from the perspective of working Americans. Both have rejected negative campaigning and lobbyist influence as well, and that will be a strong point in opposition to John McCain, who has filled his Senate office and his campaign staff with corporate lobbyists. Edwards and Obama also both represent an idealistic vision of a better American future, not a desperate clinging to the past.

If you’ve caught me being enthusiastic about the idea, well, I’ll admit it. Isn’t it time that Americans begin to feel a sense of optimism again? That’s what the Barack Obama campaign is about, really - overcoming fear with hope. With John Edwards on Obama’s team, that hope is all the more believable.

That’s the idea that’s behind this Obama-Edwards bumper sticker - and I’ll add on a note about the Obama Edwards campaign tshirt as well: It’s made in the USA, not in some overseas sweatshop factory that uses outsourced labor to make big profits for some corporate executives on the backs of child labor. This t-shirt fits the moral vision of the Obama Edwards campaign.

Maybe this one in particular is not for you - but please, make sure that when you do buy Obama or Obama-Edwards campaign shirts, they’re made in the USA. Don’t mix hope with despair.

Barack Obama Lapel Stickers

This web site is entitled Progressive Bumper Sticker because it is about progressive political bumper stickers. That’s pretty simple, in a way.

However, this site is actually about a larger sphere of information. Yes, we talk about progressive bumper stickers, but we do so with the goal of discussing the ideas that provide the foundation for the bumper stickers’ power. There is poetry in the brief form of the bumper sticker, and we read bumper stickers with toward that end.

So, every now and then we take a look at other forms of progressive political speech, besides bumper stickers. We’ve examined the meaning of t-shirts and buttons, for example.

I’m happy to say that I’ve found a new source of progressive political lapel stickers, and I intend to explore those too. No, they’re not bumper stickers, to put on the back of a car, but they have the same potential for expression and representation of ideas.

So far, from what I’ve seen, the lapel sticker looks like a shorter form, a kind of political ping, a way of saying “Here I am, and here’s what I stand for.” I see more imagery and simple wording, declarations of support or opposition. A page of lapel stickers for Barack Obama provides an example with its very first sticker - the simple image of the face of Barack Obama, without any words. This sticker tells me that the face of Barack Obama has become an icon, representative of meaning in itself, a powerful cultural symbol that is regarded as needing no explanation.

Barack Obama Surging. Help Him With This Lawn Sign.

Wake up, America! It’s less than a month now until the presidential primary elections of 2008 begin, and this is where it gets really important what particular people do to get involved in the process where they live. This is the time when even national politics is local. It’s up to you to play a part, of support the continuing national obsession with apathy.

It’s time to pick a candidate, and support that candidate in your state. Voting in the primary is important, but it’s even better if you help your chosen candidate by promoting that candidate to your friends and neighbors before the election.

A yard sign is a great way to do that. But for which candidate?

Let me suggest Barack Obama. I don’t mean to slam the other Democratic presidential candidates too hard, but the fact is that many of them supported George W. Bush in starting the Iraq War.

Bill Richardson did.
Hillary Clinton did.
Chris Dodd did.
John Edwards did.
Joseph Biden did.

Barack Obama didn’t. Barack Obama opposed invading Iraq from the start. He’s not had to offer any apologies on this issue. He got it right from the start. Obama never caved in to the pro-war pressure from the Republicans.

If that matters to you, then consider putting this Barack Obama campaign lawn sign out in your yard, to encourage people in your state to vote Obama for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2008.

Barack Obama 2008 Yard Sign

Presidential Primary Campaign Lawn Signs Go Up for John Edwards

You know that you’ve entered the heat of presidential campaign season when people start putting lawn signs in their yards. That’s just what’s happened starting this month, with lawn signs designed to support presidential candidates in particular states, like this Oregon for Edwards yard sign, promoting Democrat John Edwards in the presidential election in Oregon.

Nationwide, online measures such as search engine statistics show a lackluster interest in the 2008 presidential campaign. On a national level, many people seem not to care much who the next President is, so long as it isn’t a Republican.

Let’s cross our fingers and hope that personal displays of political interest, through objects like this lawn sign, encourages greater citizen participation at the state level.

A Very Woody Hug And Kiss for Tree Lovers

There’s something kind of sexy about a tree hugger. It’s not for nothing that people talk about getting a “woody”, or that the ancient Greeks imagined that sexually attractive spirits lived within trees. Trees are phallic, penetrating the sky and earth alike.

Right wingers are out of touch with this natural symbolism of sexuality. They’re so much into dirty, stinking oil wells that I don’t think that they really have much fun in the bedroom. They mock environmentalists as “tree huggers”, and don’t realize that this very phrase reveals how much they’re missing the boat.

This t-shirt (made here in the USA, free of sweatshop child labor) takes the right wing insult and embraces it, much as environmentalists embrace trees: I don’t just hug trees - I kiss them too.

Dennis Kucinich For President Button - Looking To The Left

I was surprised, pleasantly, when I saw the news item from the Kucinich for President campaign entitled, “If you love Joe Biden, you’ll love Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson, and Dodd – but not Kucinich”.

All the other major Democratic presidential candidates have been quoted by the Joseph Biden for President campaign - as agreeing with Biden’s foreign policy. Dennis Kucinich alone has the courage to point out what’s wrong with Biden’s pro-war foreign policy history.

The Kucinich campaign writes:

The Congressman has the utmost respect for Senator Biden and his years of service to the nation. He just happens to be wrong on some very major issues; and, if the other candidates agree with him, then they’re wrong, too.

They voted to authorize the war in Iraq. They approved continued funding of the war. They voted for the Patriot Act. They supported trade agreements that have had a devastating impact on American workers. They have failed to challenge the President and the Vice President for their unrepentant and continued violations of the U.S. Constitution.

I chose the progressive button design you see here at the top of this article because it shows Dennis Kucinich looking where the other Democratic presidential candidates don’t have the courage to look: To the left.

Is this Pacifist T-shirt the Best T-Shirt Ever?

Hyperbole is the nature of the Internet. The t-shirt you see here has been nominated as the best t-shirt ever.

I don’t think that there’s ever been that kind of award given before.

I’m not in a position to judge what the best tshirt ever is, but this one would be among my top picks, to be sure. It features a handsome young boy, giving us the peace sign with his right hand, and a slogan written as a definition, “Pacifist: Someone with the nutty idea that killing people is a bad thing.”

I’m glad that this t-shirt is out there, because, on consideration, it’s absolutely nuts that so many advocates for war out there are trying to make pacifism out to be an extreme ideology. In fact, pacifism is the heart of true moderation. War is not moderate. It’s violence that’s the true extremism.

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″)

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