Apparently besides being too small to show up clearly on the website, the lettering was too small for printing on the stickers in any case. I for one am much relieved.

I just found out about this from the Sun Gazette, which carried aletter to the editor objecting to the sticker. This was the first I heard of the quote. I did indeed see the sticker candidates in the paper when the contest was announced, and indeed, I didn’t notice the quote if it was even legible in the printed newspaper at that time. None of the designs grabbed me and I didn’t bother to vote. Believe me, had I realized the content of this sticker design I would have been on the horn to the county right there and then.

Thee is no excuse for something like this even making it into the selected designs to be submitted for vote.

What is Mr. O’Leary thinking, to send out a quote touting obedience and “manliness” from a Confederate culture hero to Arlington’s many black citizens, let alone the entire half of the population, all races, that is female? I do not blame the student who designed the sticker; mature judgment is not necessarily to be expected from young people, but from our elected officials it is.

I would also point out that obedience is not particularly an American value. In fact, elevating obedience to high in the canon of virtues is distinctly un-American.

Had George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason and other heroes of the American revolution taken the above view on obedience, Arlington would still be part of an obedient colony to Great Britian, I daresay.

Had heroes like Harriet Tubman, Susan B. Anthony, Roas Parks and the ev. Dr. Martin Luther King viewed obedience as a supreme value, black and female citizens would still be non-citizens in effect.

IAnd I would mention, as did the author of the letter to the editor in the Sun Gazette, that Robert E. Lee himself broke his oath to obey duly constituted authority when he chose to go with the rebel cause.

Finally, while I have sympathy and compassion for the man and for many others who fought on that side, for my government to endorse Robert E.Lee as an authority on character is deeply offensive to someone whose ancestors also fought gallantly — to preserve the Union of which we are citizens today.

Offering gracious permission for us to remove these words is no compensation for our having parently paid our public servants out of our tax dollars to choose, print and distribute this offensive rubbish to every automobile owner in the county, bearing the county imprimatur. I am sure Mr. O’Leary is thinking of money no doubty already spent. This is no time to throw good money after bad. There are times when officials make mistakes and need to admit it and need to do whatever is necessary to set the matter right. This is one of those times.

Mr. O’Leary’s office is an elected one, by the way. He has held it for so many years, usually running unopposed, that it may seem secure, but that could change.

By the way, I can testify as a citizen that if you don’t have a county sticker, they will catch you, eventually. This happened to me once when I forgot to renew.

We should not be upset at what the sticker says but what the sticker implies. Why do we pay taxes and are forced to purchase a sticker which guarantees our right to drive and park our vehicle in Arlington County? To me that is more upsetting.

Good thing everyone obeyed the law!

But then again, I’ve always wanted a “manly character” ;)

One thing’s for sure, I could always point the decal out to my very right-wing Manassas resident brother, the one who’s always taunting me about living in the People’s Republic of Arlington, and ask “who’s the pinko commie now?”

However, if you can promise no winter days below 50, we might be onto something . . .