I don't see it very often anymore, but one occasionally rolls past me affixed to the rear of a car, the bumper sticker that says, "Faith, Hope, Victory". It's a condensation of the elements held by those favoring the war. But though they do not realize it, it exposes the religion of Nationalism, which borrows from religion until something inconvenient is encountered, then a patriotic ideal is inserted. In this instance the biblical element of Love is dropped and replaced by Victory. If God is Love, then when you drop Love you drop God.
Another bumper sticker I still see regularly is "Freedom Is Not Free". There are usually other bumper stickers around it that suggest support for the President, right or wrong. It's a sound-bitish kind of saying, easy to remember, and packed with emotion for those who revere the flag. Its meaning is that many have sacrificed money, time, effort, and even their own lives to perpetuate the guarantee of freedom in our land. Yet thought about for a moment, the saying melts into an oxymoron kind of situation. Something is not what it is. Either that, or something is what it is not. It's too close to "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength'. You have to use the same kind of twisted rationalizing to believe it without question, to accept it without bother. This type of motto, underneath it all, serves those who benefit from the twisted logic and relies on the unquestioned ignorance of the people enslaved. It is one footfall on the path to fascism.
It is a strange vision, to imagine a land without politicians, for the people only send representatives to gather who believe that the people rule themselves.
