Political and Personal Contradictions

I had a short but interesting personal experience yesterday that spawned quite a bit of personal reflection for me. I was driving with my family in Marin County just across the Golden Gate Bridge north of San Francisco. Marin County is an interesting area known for upper class residents with a heavy emphasis on political correctness, activism, and a large number of well staffed animal shelters. Or maybe that’s just how folks from the other side of the Golden Gate view it. Needless to say, the inhabitants of Marin have a reputation of being eccentric at times.

While driving on the 101 freeway, we passed a new H3 Hummer that had a variety of stickers on the back. It was proudly dawning an Obama/Biden sticker, a dance studio sticker, an evolution sticker, a peace sticker, and a support our troops sticker. Seeing this car made me laugh as the following contradictions came to mind:

1.  Obama/Biden – support for a President who only drives one car himself, which is a hybrid, and has been pushing for alternative forms of energy for cars with programs like Cash for Clunkers, etc. The H3 Hummer is the exact opposite of a fuel efficient vehicle that would be endorsed by our President. Not only that, General Motors is now owned by the taxpayers through Obama’s recent reform actions and they will no longer be making Hummer.
2. Dance studio sticker – actually, I didn’t find too much contradiction there. The female behind the wheel was very cute and I was intrigued by the idea that she was also a dancer.
3. Evolution sticker – this is classic as the placement of an evolution sticker would imply that you are not only a believer in science but that you would also support research that highlights the dangers of global warming and pollution. Again, the Hummer is the exact opposite of an environmentally friendly vehicle. I do have to offer the possibility that this could have been a band name or something that I’m too square to know of.
4. Peace sticker and the support our troops sticker – these 2 stickers conjured up the same thought for me. You are supporting our troops in a war that many believe was started for oil while driving a car that consumes a large amount of oil. And, if you really want peace, maybe you should lessen our dependency on that oil. Funny. That being said, the support our troops stickers should be everywhere and anywhere. On the Hummers, on flag poles, mail boxes, buildings, birds, planes, windows, and anything else you can think of. Those men and women need to know we are appreciative and miss them greatly.

Now, if you are reading this, and I hope you are and hope you made it this far, you are thinking “big deal, its a few stickers.” I can definitely understand that point of view, but I think that simple form of expression could signify a much larger trend. A trend that promotes the idea of people and voters being vocal or active about certain causes, such as recycling or environmental standards, while they spend their money in a way that is counterproductive to their other efforts by buying cars like the Hummer, etc. And this could be any volunteer effort combined with any consumer trend. The point is that true change will come from understanding the bigger picture.

America is great and offers us the freedom and financial independence to do things like this, so I can’t knock these people. I just get concerned about people who feel comfortable with that level of contradiction could be doing the same at work, at home, and during other social activities. And, if they are one of those people, and you all know someone or many people like this, that says and does what they want in a hypocritical manner and don’t see the big picture, then they are being counterproductive in many ways. That’s the kind of thing that actually hurts our country.

The way I left this encounter was in a happy way and viewed this not as an encounter with someone who was duplicitous but as an encounter with a free spirited, cute dancer who was on her way to making change but hadn’t shook the car yet. I think that’s much nicer.