"Don't Blame Me: I Voted For Kerry"?

I saw a curious bumper sticker yesterday that left me scratching my head in wonder. The bumper sticker, on an old beat up Chevy pickup with Michigan license plates read: "Don't Blame Me: I Voted For Kerry." I cannot, for the life of me, figure out what message, short of Bush S**** that bumper sticker was trying to convey.

In the first place, it is the state of Michigan, which began lapsing into a recession with the rest of the country at the end of 2000. While the US economy, following the shock of the bursting of the internet bubble, the attack on 9-11, and the corporate accounting scandals, began roaring back in 2002, the Michigan economy stayed in a one-state recession.

Under the management of the most liberal tax-and-spend Democrat Governor in the state's history, Gov Jennifer Granholm, Michigan has managed to avoid any rebound experienced by the US economy, and with the 2006 mid-term election, now has a House of Representatives composed of like-minded Socialists.

Michigan's woes well predated the 2004 election, and under the expert guidance of Granholm, has taxed most of the job providers out of the state. I was talking to an individual at a mid-sized trucking company the other day, and noted that although they are located in Michigan, their vehicles all carry Maine license plates. He explained that it was to their advantage to maintain a small office in Maine for the express purpose of licensing their vehicles, as they are able to save more than $300 per vehicle in license costs. Do you suppose Michigan taxes and fees are driving away businesses? Did I mention that license plate fees have nearly doubled under Granholm?

By way of improving the job and business climate in the state, a new tax structure was adopted this past year. Individual income tax rates were raised, in order to balance the state budget, and the Single Business Tax went away, to be replaced with a new "fairer" tax structure. I friend who runs a small business, informed me last week that his accountant tells him his taxes increased by 75%. He is apparently fortunate, as some small business owners have reported triple digit increases. Many of those businesses are fast becoming "former" Michigan businesses as they either leave the state or go out of business entirely. The policies of Jennifer Granholm, not George Bush or even John Kerry, are responsible for this state's decline.

And, since in 2004 John Kerry proposed little in the way of improving the US economy, short of repealing the Bush tax cuts for the rich, I cannot see how this guy's bumper sticker related to that subject. Kerry did promise to to it better and smarter, but with Granholm as the governor, Michigan is already paying for all the better and smarter it can afford.

The bumper sticker certainly cannot relate to the war in Iraq. In 2004 John Kerry promised to win the war, not pull out. While he was somewhat short on specifics, he did promise to wage the war "better and smarter." About a year and a half ago, President Bush apparently agreed with Kerry, changing up the staff at the top, and began waging the war "better and smarter" himself. Since that time, the "Surge" has demonstrated military success, while the Iraqi government has begun to show real progress politically.

John Kerry told us he was going to turn more and more of the military operations over the the Iraqis themselves, after we had trained them of course. President Bush always seemed to be advocating exactly the same approach, based on the timetables set by his military advisers. It is happening, and appears to be working. Thank you, John Kerry for agreeing in principle to the approach the president has pursued.

So, let me return once more to that perplexing bumper sticker. It cannot relate to the Michigan economy. Similarly, it cannot relate to the Iraq War. After much thought, there is only once conclusion that can be drawn. The driver of that vehicle must be looking for "Hope" and "Change." That driver must be looking at the old US of KKK Amerika, and must be just certain that all of us bitter Midwesterners are clinging to our guns and religion, when Hope and Change are right there in our grasp.

In fact, I feel certain that is the message that good driver was trying to make. The clue for me was the gun rack in the back of that pickup truck. I feel uplifted now, as I realize his message of Hope.