Bumper stickers

One thing that USians seem very big on is bumper stickers. They love to plaster their opinions all across the back of their car to let everyone know which tribe they associate themselves with. It doesn't seem to be restricted to any sort of demographic - in the last couple of days, I've noticed everything from a bumper plastered with all sorts of band names (Radiohead, etc) through those proudly declaring their support for Obama, to those expressing their right to be a gun-totting believer in Jesus and Romney. Not that I'm  implying that support for guns necessarily correlates with religion or support for Republicans, but I've not yet seen a car that has both Democrat and NRA (National Rifle Association) stickers on it. Here's an example, taken from our local shopping mall:

I guess if you combine the facts that USians are somewhat outspoken, and in love with their cars, then you get the bumper sticker phenomenon. It's quite striking just how prevalent it is though, in stark contrast to Europe. And the bumper stickers are not just political or religious - you see everything from "Proud parent of student from High School X" through to support for football teams or declaring that the driver is an alumni of whatever Ivy League college they happen to be proud of. Actually, some states give out a learner's permit as young as 15 so it's not uncommon to see stickers saying "honours student at high school X", which is pretty weird. Surely 15 or 16 is too young to drive a car? I know I was a dick-head at that age..!

Maybe we should get some bumper stickers for our bikes? "My other bike is a cannondale" or "At least I'm not killing the planet, you SUV-driving arsehole"? Maybe not then.