Before there was social media, Americans used bumper stickers to share their strongest and strangest views with people who didn’t necessarily care.

The medium back then was cars. Slap a belief on the rear end and go. If people agreed, they honked. If they disagreed, they honked. Drivers figured it out, usually without crashing.

The original Twitter with its character limits was nothing. With bumper stickers, a sentiment had to be packed into a dozen words or less or it was just a blur.

“America: Love it or leave it.” That one rode around the country widely in the 1970s, a divisive time with anger over war, soaring gas prices and shady practices documented at the government’s highest levels. Ah, the past.

A Tesla vehicle displays a sticker referring to the car's purchase on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Concord, Mass. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

That bumper sticker, among others, is now in the collection of the Smithsonian, repository of Americana big and small.

Vote. Back Off. Coexist. Save the Whales.…