Being a Hoosier, I have become acquainted with the backsides of numerous automobiles driving across the state. In our rural environment there is quite a bit of driving, and naturally people feel the need to express themselves through their automobiles, with which they will spend a great deal of time. While some folks are satisfied with just the look of their car, others must be more… communicative of their beliefs. Enter the bumper sticker.
The most common bumper sticker that I have run across outside of college campuses (which have their own variety of bumper stickers) is the famous “Don’t Tread on Me”. This ancient colonial symbol held a very specific meaning when it was first envisioned. Benjamin Franklin had published the famous political cartoon “Join, or Die” which depicted a snake separated into segments, which each segment representing one of the states. Therefore, the wholly assembled snake was sending a message to the British; while the individual states may be weak, together they were strong.
This deliberate meaning has since been supplanted by a new one. The snake is now a representation of the American right, objecting to control and overreach by the federal government. The irony of this is how it disregards the original message of the snake. Franklin’s “Join, or Die” depicted America as fractured and needing some manner of cooperation and centralization to oppose the British. Now that centralized system is challenged with the very icon that spawned it.
The basic concept of this 180 was simple: the American right viewed the snake as a symbol of freedom resisting tyranny. In some cases, it espouses libertarian beliefs in a small government that stays out of the affairs of the people. In other instances, it is used as a symbol for gun owners, who will “rise up and strike” like a rattlesnake if prodded. However, without this is without the context of the original picture, which contradicts those ideas.
And that is pretty funny to me.
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