Washblog

I wrote Edwina last night at about 9:30 and told her I was planning to write about her message on Washblog, and that I wanted to get her view first.  I asked her a series of questions:

• Did you really post this email?
• Have you done your due diligence research to ascertain whether the facts are what you think they are?
• What do you think could be motivating so many of your neighbors to lie?
• Approximtely what percentage of your neighbors would you estimate are liars?
• Do you think it is ok to break the law in order to stop people from lying?
• Are you really a saint?

Her answer, in its entirety, sent at 1:30 this morning

Why how could you think such a thing?"

So, I got a coy reply. And I have a serious response to it.

Here in Clover precinct where I live, we are about half-and-half Dem/Rep.  Yet, in the 2004 election, Kerry signs would not stay up in my yard.  I had 10 that were stolen or destroyed beyond use.  That tells only part of the story, as for every sign that became ruined or stolen, there were many more disfigurements, knock-downs, etc. Nearly every sign I gave to precinct neighbors was removed.  Signs of local candidates were periodically knocked down, as well. They continue to be knocked down in 2006; I see them strewn all over, their wooden stakes snapped. I was recently told by someone who volunteers to put up signs for a Democratic candidate, that it is common for that candidate's signs to be removed -- and for signs of Republican candidates to be in their place.

In contrast, Republican signs stay up. In 2004, there were about 40 Bush signs in my neighborhood of about 400 houses and I did not notice any go missing. A neighbor I'm friendly with had one right across the street from me that stayed up for about 6 months, though someone did punch  it out about 2 months in.  He called me twice, my neighbor. I'm not taking your signs, he said.  And soon someone's going to take mine!  

Human nature is such as to look to other people for clues on how to act.  If it appears that everyone living in a neighborhood either supports the Republican agenda or is neutral -- or too fearful to own up to their own beliefs -- a social proof clue has been created.  Research -- and marketing practice -- show that this affects behavior. Methodical sign removal is an act of theft of physical property that has discernible effects on the behavior of others -- amounting to de facto intimidation and suppression. In my experience, Republicans are doing it a lot -- as a matter of practice. I believe it has become culturally acceptable among highly partisan Republicans to steal signs.

The effect of this intimidation has been real in my neighborhood. Several times, Democrats in the precinct, when I've first knocked on their doors have asked, 'am I the only Democrat in the area?'  One woman, her house surrounded by her next-door neighbors' oversized Republican signs, told me that she "kept it quiet" that she was a Democrat.

There's a key mark, a deliberate-looking scratch, in the paint on the door of my 2006 Prius.  I don't think I caused it.  I think it's a response to my bumper stickers.  The Rottweiler that raced out from behind a house, snarling, in full attack, and bit me while I was out doorbelling in Clover (till I walked out into traffic and it ran off because a pickup truck almost hit us both), emerged in fury, I ain't kidding, from behind a sea of Bush and Nethercutt signs. I don't know if that dog was set on me or not. I do know that scornful patterns of thinking lead to violent action.

We are facing many interlocking environmental, cultural, and economic crises in our society.  It is urgent that we find a way to help people approach political decisions with a measure of introspection and outward curiousity that is lacking in the thought that Ms. Johnston displayed in her two emails.  It is urgent that we find ways to help people respect each other as a matter of habit. It is urgent that we help people develop within themselves a willingness to give the benefit of the doubt to their opponents, to trust in the Democratic process and to operate from an assumption that most people have decent intentions. It is urgent that our culture develops a greater tolerance for error. Error is inevitable. Therefore, it deserves respect and forgiveness. We simply have to get more savvy on our basic concepts about belief and certainty.  Too many people do not seem to understand the fact that an emotional feeling of certainty within themelves is not proof that they are correct.

If the kind of thinking displayed by Ms. Johnston here is typical of the culture of the property rights people, we are in big trouble. Several months ago, I challenged three prominent Republicans to publicly  repudiate the sex-smear lies of the state Republican party against my local representatives.  I got one private reply - and no public acknowlegement.  I see this silence from Republicans, who are allowing sign stealing, death threats against American judges, and multiple other forms of political violence to occur without speaking up, as a failure of courage that we cannot afford.  People need to take some responsibility to stand up for decency.