  One fateful day in 1988 I was nominated as the spokesperson for the Republican party in my third grade classroom as part of a mock election. My birthday had fallen on election day that year and the teacher thought it would be nice to let me have all the fun and attention. After giving my speech and tallying up votes it was determined that I would be the new president of the United States. When I got home that day my parents were beaming with conservative pride. Not only had George Sr. just been reelected, but their little girl was out spreading conservatism to the third grade. Whereas everything else in their life together was a total failure, creating staunch Republican children was a success.
Everyone was so happy that they went out and had a trophy made just for me. It was a plastic Statue of Liberty that read, "To Our #1 Republican. " Fast forward 16 years and things are a little different. This #1 Republican is now #1 Sinner because she called the current president a "creep" and thinks maybe, just maybe, there are bigger fish to fry than worrying about gay people getting married. A small rage burns inside me when politics are discussed among my family because their views are so out there and inconsistent with the way they live their lives. They are the numero uno hypocritos. Just a few days ago my husband put a Kerry/Edwards bumper sticker on our car. I'm not crazy about Kerry, but I'm passionate about many of the democratic views; on all polls and surveys I fall pretty far to the left; and I do like Edwards a lot.
Given our two choices, I am happy to support Kerry with a bumper sticker. However, the first time the car left our garage with the new "A Stronger America" sign on its bumper, someone felt the need to honk and flip us off. Maybe instead of the Statue of Liberty on my trophy that day it should have been THAT guy with his middle finger. 
