posted by Mike Madison at 2:48 PM /
8 comments
More sign shenanigans in Mt. Lebanon: Signs stolen, signs defaced. Undoubtedly Obama and McCain supporters are both to blame. What a town this is.
Sign theft and sign defacement is shameful. The people who take the signs and those who deface them are cretinous thugs.
But.
The problem with sign theft and sign defacement is *not* that it is theft of private property, or that it is vandalism. It is both of those, but in the scheme of things, those sins are relatively minor. If you paid for a sign, you didn't pay much, and after the election, most people will throw the signs away anyway. I've heard people invite sign theft: steal my sign, and I'll buy another. More money for my candidate! Thanks!
The *real* problem with sign damage is that it deprives the sign owner of the one single thing that Americans have and prize in greater quantities than do the citizens of any other country: voice in the political process. Those signs represent our speech, and they represent the most important speech we have: political speech. Signage is citizenry, on a massive and important scale.
Regarding speech, sign theft is bullying and intimidation, cowardly (like all bullying) and fundamentally anti-American. Not just un-American, but anti-American. All victims of sign theft can weep for their lost property, but they should really cry over the implicit message directed their way: You tried to speak, and you were told "no." If the police catch the perpetrators, the district justice should sentence them to democracy training: 30 days to read and report on The Federalist Papers.
On Tuesday, whoever you support, speak out. Use signs, buttons, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and above all your vote. Make yours count.
Sign theft and sign defacement is shameful. The people who take the signs and those who deface them are cretinous thugs.
But.
The problem with sign theft and sign defacement is *not* that it is theft of private property, or that it is vandalism. It is both of those, but in the scheme of things, those sins are relatively minor. If you paid for a sign, you didn't pay much, and after the election, most people will throw the signs away anyway. I've heard people invite sign theft: steal my sign, and I'll buy another. More money for my candidate! Thanks!
The *real* problem with sign damage is that it deprives the sign owner of the one single thing that Americans have and prize in greater quantities than do the citizens of any other country: voice in the political process. Those signs represent our speech, and they represent the most important speech we have: political speech. Signage is citizenry, on a massive and important scale.
Regarding speech, sign theft is bullying and intimidation, cowardly (like all bullying) and fundamentally anti-American. Not just un-American, but anti-American. All victims of sign theft can weep for their lost property, but they should really cry over the implicit message directed their way: You tried to speak, and you were told "no." If the police catch the perpetrators, the district justice should sentence them to democracy training: 30 days to read and report on The Federalist Papers.
On Tuesday, whoever you support, speak out. Use signs, buttons, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and above all your vote. Make yours count.
Labels: that is all
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