Kenya and Bumper Stickers

I was driving on the Highway 99 back to Merced from the Bay Area, and a bunch of thoughts about Kenya, presidential elections and bumper stickers crossed my mind all at once.

 It's not often that news from Africa is the main front page story for a corporate daily newspaper, but this week the Sacramento Bee dedicated a substantial amount of ink to the recent political violence that has gripped Kenya, following that country's recent presidential elections.

In a nutshell, more than 300 people are dead following widespread rioting in response to President Mwai Kibaki's reelection. Many observers believe the election was fixed -- and the situation has pretty much ignited a powder-keg of ethnic tensions that have existed for years in that country.

As I read the story, I couldn't help but recall the brouhaha that erupted in this country in 2000 during the presidential election, when questions arose over widespread irregularities at the polls in Florida. One obvious difference that stands out between presidential elections in Kenya and the United States, however, is the fact that here in the United States members of the opposite parties generally don't kill one another when the election doesn't go their way.

There were no armed Democrat militias storming the White House after the election -- nor was there a Republican-issued declaration of martial law, leading to mass detentions of Democrats and their sympathizers into massive re-education camps in the nether regions of Alaska. Yes, as partisan as we Americans have grown to become, at least we haven't gotten to the point where we are killing each other for our political beliefs (although listening to modern talk radio is enough to make anyone consider suicide).

Still, before I get a little too touchy-feely in terms of heralding the virtues of the American political process, sometimes I wonder how far away we are from having our own slice of Kenya right here in the U.S.A. As I was driving, I saw some guy had a sticker on the back of his SUV that read "HELP AL QAEDA -- VOTE DEMOCRAT."

I thought, "Wow -- so just by voting now, you're helping the terrorists." I just hope this guy doesn't put a bumper sticker on his SUV that says "KEEP HONKING, I'M RELOADING" because he might shoot all the people that are honking because they like his AL-QAEDA sticker.

On a rambling side note -- while on the topic of bumper stickers - that same day I saw a bumper sticker with the Confederate flag that said "HERITAGE, NOT HATE." Okay -- my family is from the South (Mobile, Alabama). When I think of my Southern heritage, I think Blue Crab gumbo, corn bread, flounder fishing on the Gulf of Mexico and juke joints. The Confederate flag is not -- and has never been -- a part of that picture for me. I couldn't help but wonder: Why is this guy in California, the bastion of Blue State mentality, with that Confederate flag on the back of his truck (with a California license plate)? Especially if the South is sooooooo great. I doubt this guy is even from the South.

Back to politics -- regardless of how you feel about being Democrat, Republican, Green, Southerner or whatever, thank God here in America we don't have to worry about dying for our political beliefs. I just pray my friend with the AL-QAEDA sticker feels the same way.