Mundelein woman sticks to her political beliefs

She's been flipped-off and cut-off, pointed at and laughed at.

But others have given her the "thumbs-up" or honked with approval.

Some people wear their heart on their sleeve. Rebecca Rice wears her political heart on her rear bumper. The back end of her 1998 Toyota Sienna is plastered with stickers.

The decidedly left-wing sentiments give drivers plenty to ponder.

"Hatred is not a family value," says one. "Armageddon is not a foreign policy," says another.

A stay-at-home mother of three kids, Rice considers herself an introvert. The Mundelein resident says the stickers are her way of "speaking out without speaking out."

Inspired after noticing cars with provocative messages in the parking lot of her Unitarian church, she bought a few stickers from an online site. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, she added more.

"Lake County was pretty red in those days," she says. "I just wanted to say, 'not everybody thinks like you.'"

Her first sticker was an oval with a big W and the universal "no" red line bisecting it. George W. Bush isn't one of her favorite presidents.

She's had an "activist temperament" since she was little. Watching Greenpeace members position their tiny boats in front of huge whaling ships was inspirational. "Those folks have a tremendous amount of courage," she said.

Knowing the stickers might be offensive to some, she hopes they are a quiet and positive way to change people's minds. "My husband has some mean ones on his car," she said. "But my stickers aren't angry."

Realizing that her car is a rolling display of her deepest convictions, she strives to be a courteous driver. Tailgating or lane-hogging can negate the messages.

"Bad driving isn't good for my causes," she says. "It makes me look like a hypocrite."