Saw this bumper sticker on the shiny new beige SUV that pulled in front of us on the freeway early this morning on the way back from Orycon:

Election 2006: Another terrorist victory

“So, Paul, what has to be wrong with you before you think that free people exercising their Constitutionally-guaranteed right to vote for the candidates of their choice constitutes a ‘terrorist victory’?”

“I don't know.”

“It only makes sense if you notice how readily you can fill in the word ‘communist’ for ‘terrorist.’The Soviet Union really was a threat, and terrorists really are a threat, but the way they're used in political rhetoric has absolutely nothing to do with the genuine threat they pose. Imagine the same bumper sticker in 1956. It would be communists. Did people put bumper stickers on their cars in 1956?”

“I don't know.”