by Pa Rock
Road Warrior
Rosie and I hit the road this afternoon and drove to northwest Arkansas so that I would be within driving range of a family funeral that will be held in southwest Missouri in the morning. The trip was fairly uneventful - until we got to Springdale.
When I was a youngster in rural Missouri a half a century ago, northwest Arkansas was little more than a handful of small communities surrounded by pastureland. Today the area is basically a fifty-mile-long city stretching from the Missouri border to the south side of Fayetteville. The four-lane highway that traverses the north-south axis is currently being expanded to six lanes, and it will surely be eight by the time my grand-nieces and nephews are driving. It is fast-becoming what the Trumpers would contemptuously call "cosmopolitan."
Despite the fact that this area of Arkansas is home to Walmart and the mega-greedy Walton family, it still exhibits progressive leanings and has cultural opportunities that are rare in other parts of Arkansas. But, it is still Arkansas, and some knuckleheads still persist in thinking that things here are like they were when Orval Faubus was governor. The Springdale section of the metroplex, in particular, seems to harbor more than its fair share of tobacco-spitting rednecks driving big pick-up trucks.
I pulled in behind one of them at a McDonalds in Springdale this afternoon. The fellow, a big brute driving a big truck, had a bumper sticker that trumpeted his contempt for the more progressive elements who are now populating his Arkansas. It was a plain yellow sticker with black stenciled lettering that declared "Obama Sucks."
Point made and taken.
The imposing Neanderthal looked as though he would brook no challenge to his god-given opinion.
What, I wondered, would happen to the free speech advocate who felt compelled to put a bumper sticker on his Audi or Lexus or Land Rover (or 2005 Saturn Vue) which said "Trump Sucks"? Would freedom of speech be a valued commodity then, or would that poor progressive get his ass kicked by a baboon in a baseball cap? My guess is that confrontations would abound.
Last week I read an account from a friend in Indiana who chronicled a angry encounter that a Trump supporter initiated when he saw a woman getting out of a car that had a "Resist" bumper sticker. The guy apparently became loud and obnoxious as he lectured the woman who dared to have an opinion other than the one he held. He preached loudly and rudely on the importance of giving Trump a chance.
Trump has been in office more than two hudnred days now, more than a quarter of which he has spent playing golf, and it should be obvious to anyone with half-a-brain and opposable thumbs that he has had his chance - and yet he persists in sucking. That is a fact, whether its proclaimed on a bumper sticker or just a generally known (and very sad) fact of life.
Donald Trump has, in fact spent much of his time in office name-calling and criticizing others - and it's high time that those of us who are less than enamored of him say so.
In fact, there's probably an "ap" for that!
Road Warrior
Rosie and I hit the road this afternoon and drove to northwest Arkansas so that I would be within driving range of a family funeral that will be held in southwest Missouri in the morning. The trip was fairly uneventful - until we got to Springdale.
When I was a youngster in rural Missouri a half a century ago, northwest Arkansas was little more than a handful of small communities surrounded by pastureland. Today the area is basically a fifty-mile-long city stretching from the Missouri border to the south side of Fayetteville. The four-lane highway that traverses the north-south axis is currently being expanded to six lanes, and it will surely be eight by the time my grand-nieces and nephews are driving. It is fast-becoming what the Trumpers would contemptuously call "cosmopolitan."
Despite the fact that this area of Arkansas is home to Walmart and the mega-greedy Walton family, it still exhibits progressive leanings and has cultural opportunities that are rare in other parts of Arkansas. But, it is still Arkansas, and some knuckleheads still persist in thinking that things here are like they were when Orval Faubus was governor. The Springdale section of the metroplex, in particular, seems to harbor more than its fair share of tobacco-spitting rednecks driving big pick-up trucks.
I pulled in behind one of them at a McDonalds in Springdale this afternoon. The fellow, a big brute driving a big truck, had a bumper sticker that trumpeted his contempt for the more progressive elements who are now populating his Arkansas. It was a plain yellow sticker with black stenciled lettering that declared "Obama Sucks."
Point made and taken.
The imposing Neanderthal looked as though he would brook no challenge to his god-given opinion.
What, I wondered, would happen to the free speech advocate who felt compelled to put a bumper sticker on his Audi or Lexus or Land Rover (or 2005 Saturn Vue) which said "Trump Sucks"? Would freedom of speech be a valued commodity then, or would that poor progressive get his ass kicked by a baboon in a baseball cap? My guess is that confrontations would abound.
Last week I read an account from a friend in Indiana who chronicled a angry encounter that a Trump supporter initiated when he saw a woman getting out of a car that had a "Resist" bumper sticker. The guy apparently became loud and obnoxious as he lectured the woman who dared to have an opinion other than the one he held. He preached loudly and rudely on the importance of giving Trump a chance.
Trump has been in office more than two hudnred days now, more than a quarter of which he has spent playing golf, and it should be obvious to anyone with half-a-brain and opposable thumbs that he has had his chance - and yet he persists in sucking. That is a fact, whether its proclaimed on a bumper sticker or just a generally known (and very sad) fact of life.
Donald Trump has, in fact spent much of his time in office name-calling and criticizing others - and it's high time that those of us who are less than enamored of him say so.
In fact, there's probably an "ap" for that!
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