In defense of yard signs: my weekly newspaper column

[flowomo]

This stopic got some play on DU this week, so I thought you might find this interesting. It's my weekly newspaper column and it's also available online at:
http://cumberlink.com/articles/2008/09/25/opinion/columns/rich_lewis/doc48dba64e1e95c237186752.txt

(MODS: I have reprint permissions for this column as long as my newspaper is credited, which it is)

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Ode to the value of election yard signs
By Rich Lewis, Sentinel Columnist, September 25, 2008

Political campaigns are great banquets of activity with many impressive main courses but also a number of tasty side dishes.

Today I want to defend one of those much maligned sides.

My wife and I recently paid $16, plus $6 shipping, for a pair of “Obama-Biden” yard signs from Barack Obama’s Web site. We did it because we really like “showing our colors” when we’re enthusiastic about a candidate.

So I was annoyed last Sunday when Sean Quinn, a regular contributor at the popular political Web site, fivethirtyeight.com, posted a piece mocking people like us who think that yard signs play a meaningful role in campaigns.

Quinn was responding to reports that some Obama supporters around the country were upset because yard signs were not available at their local Obama headquarters.

For example, the previous day a poster at another prominent political Web site, dailykos.com, had written that John McCain signs were all over his neighborhood in northern Virginia, and he wanted one to show his support for Obama.

“But out at the Obama campaign office, I got some unwelcome and unexpected news: no signs,” the poster wrote. “Not only no signs, but none expected to arrive any time soon, possibly for as long as five weeks!”

He checked with his friends and “heard similar stories from all over the country. Shortages and backlogs in dozens of offices.”

I found similar complaints online from various places, including one from a blogger in St. Louis who said it was easier “to find a pair of those rimless titanium peepers Sarah Palin’s made famous” than it was to find an Obama sign.

In response to these complaints, Quinn snidely wrote that the Obama campaign “has decided to forgo the traditional time-wasting distribution of chum (yard signs, bumper stickers, etc.) to try and win the election.”

The topic then spread to other political discussion boards, with strong opinions on both sides.

Many agreed with Quinn that local organizers should spend their time “recruiting volunteers instead of spending their limited time worrying about whether there are enough yard signs to go around.”

They agreed that signs “don’t vote” — but “generate a ridiculous amount of complaining that must be patiently listened to.” Signs get stolen and vandalized. They can be ugly if not maintained. They are mindlessly littered on roadsides and vacant lots.

“Until yard signs sprout little legs and go to the polls on Election Day, in a presidential election with universal name recognition they are just a nice little decoration,” Quinn asserted.

The criticisms are true, but the conclusion is wrong.

Putting out a yard sign is a public act of good citizenship in exactly the same way that flying an American flag from your porch is a public act of good citizenship.

The key word there is “public” — meaning it is done visibly. Volunteering to canvas or make phone calls is vitally important — but these are relatively private actions, conducted one on one in a doorway or from a desk. Yard signs bring the political process out where it can be seen by all. They announce to all who pass by: “There’s an election going on; we think it’s important and so should you.”

We celebrate arguably lesser things with equally noticeable, and often more garish, displays. We don’t complain about people who hang cobwebs and skeletons from their trees at Halloween. We enjoy those bizarre inflatable snowmen in yards and twinkling lights on houses during the holidays. We nod approvingly at Steeler or Penn State flags flapping out windows during football season.

So why would anybody object to a yard sign celebrating the democratic process during election season? And why would anybody consider it a waste of time to make them available?

These “nice little decorations,” these bits of “chum,” are announcements that we care about who gets elected to run our towns, our states and our country — and that matters at a time when huge numbers of Americans can’t be bothered to learn who’s running, what they stand for or even to vote.

Maybe, just maybe, those signs will be the thing that triggers an interest in politics in someone else. Makes them think about their responsibilities as citizens. I know that my interest in politics was awakened when, as a child, I would see a multitude of colorful campaign signs suddenly appear up and down every street of my hometown in Massachusetts. It was exciting and I knew that something important must be going on, even if I didn’t fully understand what it was until much later.

Last night, I drove by the Obama headquarters in Carlisle and, of course, they’ve got Obama signs in the parking lot. And right across the street is a house with a big McCain sign in the yard.

I felt that same tingle of excitement — that little reminder that an important decision was going to be made soon and that people were taking it seriously enough to put their convictions on public display.

I really don’t mean to make too much of this. After all, we’re talking about 18-by-24-inch pieces of cardboard or plastic with a few names stamped on them. Just a side dish of “chum.”

But for me, the banquet wouldn’t be complete without it.

Rich Lewis’ e-mail address is: [e-mail]