Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2008 22:18:21 -0400
From: Connie McAdams
Subject: Say_It_Ain’t_So_Joe
Leading up to the primary election in the spring, my son, who is finally old enough to vote in a presidential election, came home from college for a weekend visit. He proudly planted an Obama yard sign in front of our house, and went back to school. A few days later the sign mysteriously disappeared. We were disappointed, but we let it go. On Primary Election Day in May, my son drove home from Greensboro just so he could cast his vote for Barack Obama.
As elections started heating up again this fall, I followed my son’s lead, and planted a new Obama-Biden sign in front of my house, alongside signs for my local favorites in the school board and county commissioner’s races. I know that I have neighbors with differing political opinions, but we respect
each other, and I was pleased that this time all my signs stayed up for 6 weeks. What a sad surprise when I came home from church Sunday morning and discovered that my Obama-Biden sign had been removed AND replaced with a McCain-Palin sign. The signs for local candidates had not been touched.
It is ironic that Joe Hackney was a guest speaker at my church at the very time the sign swapping was taking place. He talked about how important it is for representatives from both political parties to treat each other with respect during the legislative process. It seems to me that voters ought to be able to do that too. I’ve never made a decision about who to vote for based on a sign in somebody’s yard, but I appreciate my freedom of expression that allows me to show support for candidates of my choice. Does “Joe (or Jolene) the Sign-switcher” really think that replacing an Obama-Biden sign in front of my house with a McCain-Palin sign will influence somebody to vote for the Republican ticket? Not likely. More likely than not it just makes him (or her) feel good.
I’ll never know who switched signs, and the perpetrator will continue to gloat. (Although I wonder if the Sheriff’s office or Police department would like to lift some fingerprints from my new McCain sign. Hmmm). At any rate, it comes off as a juvenile and illegal act and a negative reflection on the candidate someone is supporting “by hook or by crook.” I want to believe that this act of vandalism was committed by some “outsider” driving through my community, because it’s just too unpleasant to think that any of my Chatham neighbors would stoop so low.
Just for the record, I haven’t changed candidates, despite what the sign in front of my house might have briefly indicated. My son and I had already voted early for Obama before the sign was switched.
Connie McAdams
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